


Sharp Stares and Sunlit Glares

by robotpop



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-15
Updated: 2011-06-18
Packaged: 2017-10-19 10:23:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 21,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/199809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robotpop/pseuds/robotpop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“What are you looking at, fuckass?” The troll grumbled, shoving the movie back on the shelf and shouldering his way past him. One of John’s movies dropped from the top of his stack, flying to the ground. The troll didn’t look back, John opening his mouth to reply, but nothing yet coming out. His first inclination was to be rude back, but the entire experience was so strange that he wasn’t sure what to think of it, raising an eyebrow in thought as he kneeled carefully to retrieve the rogue video.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“John.”

Sun reflected off the pieces of dust that floated through the air at the end of the day, rustled by the premature movements made by the students around him to pack up. It was fall, and the sun was already in its first setting stages, bathing the room with a serene yellow. John stared out the window absentmindedly, yearning for class to be over like always.

“John, dude.”

Dave was sitting propped up on his elbow, trying to get John’s attention. Having drowned out the noise of the room for a good twenty minutes, his best friend’s voice seemed to penetrate his thoughts like an alarm clock would wake him from a dream—no matter how nonchalant and cool Dave’s voice was. He looked over, blinking, eyes half-lidded in a haze of boredom.

“Yeah?”

“You look like Gamzee, with your eyes like that. Snap out of it.” John blinked again, taking a quick glance at the aforementioned troll, who was busy staring intently at the back of the bull-horned Tavros’ head, as though he could see something there that no one else could. It wouldn’t be an inaccurate assessment. Dave began again. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about our plans.”

“No…” John searches his brain. Plans? He knew he could be a bit airheaded at times, and at this moment he was feeling as though he fit that description perfectly. “Yes. Yes, I forgot. Please refresh my memory.” Dave sighed loudly and pinched his brow.

“I’m not about to get all wordy up in here—”

“I think you already are.”

“—but I know it isn’t too much to ask for your dorky head to fucking remember the important things I had in store for us today.” Dave’s voice remained flat, the only reason John probably had to justify his own borderline careless treatment of someone he considered to be his best friend—Dave was simply too cool to care. Rose, who had been casually observing the pair ever since John had been snapped out of his reverie, leaned forward in her chair behind them and interrupted Dave once again.

“Don’t be indignant just because the only person who you put any stock into doesn’t worship the ground you tread, dear Strider.” She smiled, putting her head on both hands and staring pointedly at Dave, who flipped his pencil between his fingers. The bell rang, finally, and many students who had been ready to go for the past ten minutes disappeared without a moment’s notice. The three stayed, as usual, to wait for their missing piece Jade to find them.

“Anyway.” Dave continued, ever patient with Rose’s playful verbal jabs, “I found a wicked used movie store and I know you would cream your pants, Egbert, sifting through all of the crappy VHS you can get your lame-ass hands on.” John perked up at the thought, memories flooding back from last week. Immediately he broke through the distraction of Gamzee (who, as usual, lingered about confusedly after class) in the back, who let out an alright, motherfuckers with an insane sort of chuckle, to daydream briefly about completing his collection of horrible Nic Cage movies. “So are you in? I don’t even have to ask, I know you’re in.”

John laughed, stowing his books in his backpack as Jade appeared beside them, happily beginning an in depth chat with Rose about their Inter-Global Communications homework. Dave lost interest immediately and John rolled his eyes at their babbling nonsense, both of them getting up to leave as quickly as possible.

 

It didn’t take long to get to the video store, though John certainly understood why he had never been there or heard of it before. It was several blocks east of the school, in a neighborhood that could only be described as ‘ghetto’. This didn’t bother him, however, when he laid eyes on the expanse of shelves and tables stacked high with used VHS tapes. Dave’s comment on him creaming his pants indeed came closer to being a prediction when he told him that there were two stories.

His heart skipped a beat when, after nearly a half hour of browsing (Dave had gone off somewhere to find a Ben Stiller movie he had mentioned), he found Raising Arizona under a pile of forgotten comedies. The fact that it was marked at ninety-nine cents only made the find of yet another Nic Cage classic all the more sweet. Another half hour brought a slew of Matthew McConaughey discoveries, though he would have to look upstairs to find any more in the romantic comedy section, as an attendant informed him. He also found a set of every Howie Mandel TV movies ever made—though it was a bit too much Mandel for him, especially with the knowledge of what pranks Little Monsters had inspired in Dave.

Bluh.

He made his way upstairs, the musty smell of old carpeting and creaky boards beneath intoxicating him. This part of the store seemed to be relatively empty, though downstairs it wasn’t exactly a festival going on either. The sense of privacy only spurred John on, gawking at obscure titles with wild abandon. Rom-coms were in the back, a strange idea indeed—he supposed that there wouldn’t be enough room downstairs to house the pure awfulness and intrigue that came with the genre.

It was behind some tall shelves, and after passing them with his arms full of Cage and McConaughey, it became immediately apparent that he was not alone. A troll about his age—probably a senior in high school too, though he was a bit short—stood holding a title he couldn’t see. John gawked. It was rare to see a troll in a used movie store like this one, since the filing systems of human movies and troll movies differed so greatly that only mega-stores could handle both at once, and even so, only in little bits. In general he hadn’t found that trolls appreciated human cinema, especially after the night that Dave had invited their tentative friend Tavros over for a good ol’ fashioned Harry Potter marathon (orchestrated by none other than Jade), and had only succeeded in confusing him thoroughly. John considered it a lost cause, especially since very few romantic relationships were even included in the movies.

The troll, who had his back turned at first, noticed John’s presence within the first few squeaks of the floorboards beneath his feet. The movies were all a bit crammed in the tiny section circling a window, the troll directly in front of the dwindling light pouring through the glass from the remains of a sunset. He could only see his silhouette at first, the glare dazzling his eyes as the troll spun around, as if he were caught red-handed simply for browsing.

John felt compelled to say something, but nothing came to mind as he got used to the light and began to register his appearance. He had the sign of a cancer on his black, long sleeved shirt. His horns were unusual as well, being dull, short nubs. John had a brief vision of cupping his hands over them, only because with any other troll he would be cut by the sharp points. For as long as John studied him, the troll glared right back, his teeth covering his bottom lip in a similar way to John’s when he was to relaxed to mind them.

“What are you looking at, fuckass?” The troll grumbled, shoving the movie back on the shelf and shouldering his way past him. One of John’s movies dropped from the top of his stack, flying to the ground. The troll didn’t look back, John opening his mouth to reply, but nothing yet coming out. His first inclination was to be rude back, but the entire experience was so strange that he wasn’t sure what to think of it, raising an eyebrow in thought as he kneeled carefully to retrieve the rogue video.


	2. Chapter 2

John didn’t mention to Dave what had happened. He figured that it wasn’t really worth mentioning, just some troll yelling at him for staring. He was absolutely certain Dave would twist it around to make it seem as though John was checking him out, the idea alone motivating him enough to try to forget the scenario ever happened.

That is, until he saw him again.

In his first period class.

It was a bit unnerving to see the troll’s face again, a tinge of embarrassment going through him as he attempted to avoid all eye contact with the troll. He didn’t have Dave to distract him, but he was rather relieved when Vriska leaned back to talk. Vriska, a troll with the longest hair he had ever seen, was a bit frightening to a lot of his classmates, but John found conversations with her entertaining. After all, she had gotten him a shirt the other day that John thought looked pretty snazzy. That, and they shared a deep passion for Nic Cage and the movie Con Air. That was especially important.

“Did you finish the homework, John?” Her voice had a strange, flirtatious lilt to it, something Jade had warned him against. John bent over, pulling out his work while simultaneously hiding his face from view. Before the bell rang the class seemed particularly busy socializing, which seemed to shield John from getting noticed for now. Vriska wasted no time in looking over his homework, staring at the equations on the page and comparing her answers with his. Before, John had to encourage Vriska not to copy his answers. At least now she tried…even though she ended up changing her solutions most of the time. John didn’t blame her, math was hard. She giggled, giving his paper back and smiling, her expression dripping with flattery.

“You’re really good at this, John…thank goodness I have you here to help me out. Thank you.” She flipped her hair, turning back to face the front as their teacher called for their attention. Throughout the block John slipped furtive glances toward the new student, wondering why the teacher hadn’t introduced him. He was sitting a seat away from most everyone around him—not a hard thing to do considering the small class size, and giving John the impression that he would rather be anywhere else.

After managing to slip out of the front door unnoticed by the new student, John spent his classes up to lunch in relative peace. He met up with Dave during mealtime, the cafeteria abuzz with the activity of hungry students milling around, waiting in line, finding seats. John took out his bagged lunch, grimacing at the heinous amounts of Betty Crocker his dad had sneaked into the paper. Silently he pushed it over to Dave, who slid his school-bought meal in exchange. It was a daily ritual, Dave finding an interest in sugary cakes and cookies more and more in the past few months. John supposed it was a metabolism thing.

John began to dig into the mac ‘n cheese Dave had chosen for today when, in his peripheral vision, there appeared a gliding orange blur. Suddenly Tavros was at their table, grinning his awkward, toothy grin that John appreciated not so much as its comedic appearance but more for how honest Tavros seemed with it across his face. Genuine, unadulterated and innocent happiness was not something John saw often in a troll, or a human, for that matter. Only Jade could match the pure emotion Tavros brought to the table.

“Hey, uhh. Hey guys.” Tavros spoke in his usual faltering manner, albeit more enthusiastic this time than normal. Dave gave his signature nod, recognizing Tavros’ presence. John knew that he had a fondness for the troll, but it wouldn’t stop him from refraining to speak until he very well felt like it.

“Hey, Tav!” John replied, feeding off the troll’s happiness. He watched as Tavros picked up his fork and pushed food around his plate, clearly a question or something on his mind. “What’s up?”

“Uhh. Well, actually,” He paused, gathering his thoughts, “I know our last hang out session wasn’t exactly the best ever, uhh. But. When Dave asked me to eat lunch with you guys,” John glanced at Dave, whose poker face remained impeccable, “I got the courage, uhh, to see if you maybe wanted to hang out Friday, tomorrow that is,” another pause, probably to catch his breath, “you know, maybe Dave could show me a thing or two about slam, that would uhh. Be cool.”  
“Yeah, alright man. Sounds good.” Dave’s voice was just an increment softer, kinder, when he talked to Tavros. The change only motivated John to think of a good excuse to leave them both alone, together.

“You know, I really wish I could…but my Dad promised a fun night of non Betty Crocker cooking, and I just can’t ditch my dad. You know how it is.” John smiled apologetically, watching Tavros nod in understanding.

“Yeah, uhh. I know how that is. You have to spend time with your lusus, if you love them, I mean. That’s my understanding of human parents.” Tavros smiled, and as he turned his attention toward his food, Dave looked at John for only a moment. In this moment he raised an eyebrow, simultaneously giving him a small nod as if in thanks. John, for this second, appreciated the fact that he could have an entire conversation with his best friend, and only with his best friend, while the rest of the room barely noticed.

John was just about to inquire into Tavros’ skills as a slam poet when behind him a small commotion erupted.  
“You can’t sit there.” A deep voice reached John’s ears, one that seemed to penetrate for miles. “That’s where I put my towels.” John looked over, catching sight of Equius, Nepeta, Eridan and a few others staring pointedly at none other than the new student, who gripped his lunch plate with a vengeance.

“That is the worst utter bullshit I’ve ever let my fucking neck nub process!” The student yelled back, and as John studied him, a thin layer of sweat began to secrete on Equius’ forehead. “There’s nowhere else to sit in this motherfucking cafeteria, where the hell am I supposed to go!?”

“Anywhere else. You’re ruining my hipster aura.” Eridan’s voice piped in, and John couldn’t even tell if it was a joke or not. The nameless newbie growled in protest, apparently at a loss for words to reply to Eridan’s statement. John, despite his better judgment, interrupted him before the argument could go any further.

“Uh. There’s room here, if you want.” He could hear Dave behind him breathe out in annoyance, but he didn’t care. John couldn’t leave something like his alone.

The student turned around, and John, in full light, caught sight of the angry troll. His eyes had creases under them from lack of sleep, and those teeth…it was as though he was looking at a troll version of his own mouth. For several long seconds the troll took in the sight of him too, raising his eyebrows slowly as he realized who John was. There seemed to be a lot of other things going on in the student’s head, things that John could not identify—they were probably nothing he wanted to know about, anyway.

Wordlessly he walked about to John’s table, setting his plate in front of the chair to his side. John couldn’t escape his gaze, a strange fixation that he suddenly seemed to have, as though not able to decide what he thought of John quite yet. He sat down, taking his fork in one hand and positioning it over his own portion of mac ‘n cheese.  
“So what’s your name?”

“John.” He answered, a bit quietly. The troll was no less intimidating than he ever was, and John couldn’t help but stare fixedly at his food.

“You’re the kid who stared at me in the movie store.” He smirked, and John could feel a tinge of blush on his cheeks. “Who would’ve thought you’d go to the same fucking school I transferred to.”

“I wasn’t staring. The light was blocking you out, I couldn’t see.” John fumbled over his speech, making Tavros look like a master verbalist. Dave was smirking harder than he’d ever seen him smirk. Tavros was watching them, wide eyed with curiosity.

“You’ve met Karkat?” Tavros spoke up, Dave and John turning to look at him with eyebrows raised.

“Well. I mean. We ran into each other in the movie store yesterday…” John was dying of embarrassment—he had wanted this lunch to focus more on Dave and Tavros rather than the retarded first impression he gave Karkat. But what he wanted to know most was how Tavros knew such a smug and angry troll in the first place.

“John here couldn’t keep his eyes off me.” John frowned, at a loss for what to do. “What are you, psycho? Stop staring at me like that.” For a second John wanted to hit him, but recalled some advice Dave had given him earlier in their high school careers.

“Even if you care, you gotta act like you don’t. That way, you’re always on top of things. Never flip your shit.”

John took a small breath and sighed, breaking into a wide grin.

“Yeah, I guess I have no self control!” He spouted happily, and he could feel his mood lifting just by the subtle reactions from everyone around him. “So how do you know Karkat, Tavros?”

“Huh? Oh, uhh. Middle school.” He answered, “We used to be close friends.” Karkat said nothing. For a minute John thought what could have been identified as guilt on the troll’s face, but it was too quick to fully register.

“Yeah, uh.” Karkat fiddled with his bright yellow nails, Tavros’ face cast into his lap.

“What, did you guys date, or something?” Dave leaned back in his chair, folding his arms and looking rather unwelcome at the idea.

“Uhh, no.” Tavros blushed deeply, copper filling his face. “It’s just that, in middle school…I wasn’t paralyzed. I…kind of quit talking to people for a while after it happened. I, uhh. I should have told you, Karkat.” Tavros was a bit hunched over as he spoke. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize man. I let it happen.”

John was speechless. How was he supposed to act like he didn’t care at something like this? Dave certainly pulled it off well, somehow without looking like an unsympathetic jerk. He felt like leaving to let the two trolls catch up, but something made him feel as though he wouldn’t be able to tear Dave away from Tavros right now.

“So Karkat, what does the rest of your day look like?” John tentatively changed the subject, and it seemed to work—Karkat was willing to distract himself, and had been considerably softened by their previous conversation. As they talked, Dave leaned over to converse with Tavros, placing his arm on the wheelchair’s armrest, and John couldn’t help but think about how he had never seen Dave lean so closely toward someone before.

 

“Listen.”

It was after their last class, Rose having left with Kanaya, Jade leaving early for an appointment, and Dave checking out to practice his katana with his Bro. Karkat so happened to have the last class with him and Dave, and he stuck to John that afternoon pretty faithfully—it was easy to see that he was one of the only people that put up with his coarse manner of speaking. John turned to show he was listening.

“You were in the rom-com section for a reason, weren’t you?” The troll’s voice had a touch of angry hopefulness. John grinned.

“Well yeah. I collect all sorts of bad movies—I was just looking for some Matthew McConaughey, since I know he’s dabbled in rom-com. Why?” They walked along the hallway, John’s backpack bouncing slightly off of his back as they traipsed. Karkat took a moment to think, considering the tiles on the floor for a few seconds. “You were there for a reason too, right?”

“Just checking out what human cinema had to offer to the genre. Nothing special from what I saw.” Karkat spoke with disdain. “Troll movies are a whole lot better, I can tell you. The complexity of the quadrants system certainly adds a whole lot to movies that their human counterparts lack.” Karkat suddenly sounded like some sort of professor on the subject, rattling on. “I mean, it’s made me somewhat of an expert on relationships. There’s something about it that deeply interests me.”

“Whatever you say.” John laughed, “So you must find it easy to fill a quadrant whenever you like.” Karkat said nothing, the long pauses between thoughts setting John on edge. Given their introduction and the troll’s demeanor, he hadn’t expected to already be having deep conversation with him by the end of the day. Though, he supposed, this didn’t exactly qualify as deep.

“No, I mean.” Karkat’s face tinged pink. “It’s not like I couldn’t. I just don’t. I don’t care about that stuff, it’s not something I dabble in. Movies are where it’s at.” John laughed, patting Karkat on the shoulder, whose face turned redder. “Anyway,” His voice was strained, repressed anger threatening to burst forth, “since you seem to be the kind of freak who collects that shit, maybe you’re interested in watching one together. Just. I have no recommendations, from anyone who appreciates lowlife human cinema like you do.”

“Well…” John considered it. He would love to introduce yet another unwitting individual to Con Air, but being that it wasn’t necessarily romantic, he might have to wait to ease Karkat into it. “…That would be pretty cool.”

“Good. Otherwise I’d be lost in the world of crappy movies and I wouldn’t know what was supposed to be plain shit and what was supposed to be pure, vomit-inducing horsecrap.” John couldn’t help but laugh again at Karkat’s mode of verbal expression, finding it easier and easier to look past as they talked. Dave certainly was on to something.

“Alright then. How about tomorrow? Since it’s Friday and all.”

“Sounds good.” They were at the front doors, Karkat lingering for a few moments.

“Oh,” John barely remembered, “Don’t tell Dave or Tavros.”

“What, why the fuck wouldn’t you tell those boneheads your shit? Aren’t they supposed to be your friends?” Karkat spat with confusion. John shook his head.

“It’s not that I’m trying to be secretive. I just lied and told them I had plans on Friday to give them a good excuse to hang out alone together. Otherwise I think I’d feel like a third wheel. Too much tension is already starting to happen with them.” John wasn’t yet sure what to think of Dave’s newfound interest in the Taurus.

“What, really? Those two?” Karkat looked surprised.

“Oh, come on, mister relationship expert. You couldn’t tell?”

“I couldn’t see past those damn shades and that stony goddamn façade if my life depended on it. And Tavros always acts like that. He hasn’t changed a bit since middle school.” As Karkat said so, the volume of his voice dropped significantly, nostalgically. John could see he was having a moment.

After a couple seconds he finally interrupted the Troll’s train of thought, feeling the pull toward home and his bed to take an afternoon nap.

“Hey, I gotta go, but we’ll walk to my house after school, okay? It’s a bit far, but it’s a nice walk.” John began to leave, waving to Karkat who looked after him with an eyebrow raised.

“Cool. Don’t fucking forget.” His voice had returned to a level more normal, and John let loose a beam that he couldn’t hold back any longer.


	3. Chapter 3

Friday went by quickly, mostly because the teachers loosened their stronghold on discipline at the end of the week. It had been raining but by their last class it let up, the clouds parting to reveal the glowing orange sun. Their teacher opened the window, and the intoxicating and rare breath of clean air felt better to John than he knew any narcotic could. It was perfect weather to walk home in.

Tavros left quickly with Dave once class ended, John feeling a twinge of jealousy watching his best friend leave with the awkward troll. Though it confused him as to why he would be upset at all, Dave had plenty of other friends—and they had known each other for so long that John had no reason to doubt that. As Karkat approached he pushed the thought from his mind, grabbing his things and quickly leaving school.

“What’s your hurry? Jegus motherfuck. You’re walking like you have a stick up your ass.” Karkat was trying hard to keep up with John, who faltered for a moment and realized that he was, in fact, acting as though he was in a rush.

“I’m a little mixed up today, I think.” John shook his head, hitching his backpack properly onto his back.

“You seemed fine this morning. Don’t tell me you’re some bat-shit bipolar. I’ve got enough friends like that to last me a lifetime.” Karkat’s voice raised several decibels, John forcing a smile.

“No, I just have more on my mind than I did before.”

 

Blocks away—but not many—Tavros found himself being pushed along the sidewalk, hands resting uncomfortably in his lap. Dave, to whom Terezi referred to as the coolkid himself, was the one pushing him, and he couldn’t believe his luck. He would have preferred if Dave walked alongside him, but there was no way for him to know that the older teen would wordlessly slip behind his wheelchair and take control of the steering. There was something uneasy, yet completely satisfying, in letting someone he trusted take over for a while. He wasn’t sure why he trusted this guy, though—they hadn’t really gotten to know each other for very long. It was something of admiration, he supposed.

“Uhh. So Dave, where are we going?” Tavros questioned after a while, taking note of how nicely the orange sunlight seemed to light his skin. It was no longer grey, but a sort of lovely purple, something he enjoyed. It wasn’t often that Tavros appreciated something when it concerned himself.

“A hill.”

“Oh.” Tavros mulled this over in his head for a few minutes, considering the possible implications his answer might have. “Is it, uhh, a special hill?” He inquired once more, becoming a bit nervous.

“You’ll see.” Dave was terrifyingly cryptic on the matter. Tavros shifted his shoulders a little, trying to imagine what Dave meant. Maybe it was a place for holding slam sessions? He knew he could handle that for sure.

Eventually they got there. It was a long, steep slope leading through a field of lush grass. The green sparkled from the dew left by the afternoon rain, the sun facilitating each gleam. The sidewalk turned a relatively sharp right angle at the bottom of the decline, continuing on into the neighborhood. Tavros knew this hill—though he had never traversed it. Just something he recognized when children and young trolls would use it to sled down.

“So, are we, uhh. Going to slam here? It looks pretty, at least.” Tavros commented, turning slightly and feeling one of his horns brush up against Dave’s chest.

“Nope. Hold on tight.”

Tavros barely had time to process what he said before Dave hopped onto the back rung of his wheelchair that he didn’t even know he had, the blonde giving them a little push before the chair began to roll down the hill. It was slow for the first second, and then the wind was knocked straight from Tavros’ chest, all words lost on his lips as they seemed to zip impossibly fast downwards. Suddenly the individual sparkling droplets were a blur, and their route became Tavros’ tunnel vision. He was thrilled and filled completely with dread in one of the strangest emotions he had ever felt.

It wasn’t long before they hit the grass at the bottom, the wheelchair thankfully continuing to roll rather than projecting the boys forward onto the unforgiving earth. This certainly wasn’t a cliff, at least, and Tavros was thankful that they were able to glide so easily onto the transitioning terrain. He was gripping the armrests of his chair so tightly that his knuckles had turned yellow from the bone pressing so hard against his skin. The wheelchair slowed, and Dave seemed to panic for a moment, as if he had overshot something, and as it came to rest, it tipped backwards and deposited its passenger onto him.

“S-Sorry! Tavros yelped, the back of the chair flat on Dave’s legs with him on top of it. He crawled over to Dave’s side, though he didn’t seem to bat an eyelash, kicking the chair away and letting himself grin. The sight was exceptionally odd and endearing, though Tavros had too much else on his mind to store the information away for later. “I really don’t think, uhh, that we should, uhh. Ever do that again.”

“You didn’t have fun?” Dave turned, the smile still there. “You’re alright, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah. But…” Tavros propped himself up, leaning on his hands, “…I’m not really fond of heights.”

“I know.” Dave sat up too, looking over at the sunset as it shone its most fiery red. “I’ve done that a million times on my skateboard. I knew we were gonna be fine.” Tavros looked at his own reflection in Dave’s sunglasses, seeing himself sitting there, his heart pounding, yet looking as though he hadn’t any worries at all. He really was okay.

So distracted was he by his own image that he didn’t notice Dave’s face moving closer until their noses were only inches apart. Tavros was a bit caught off guard, though so little time with Dave had taught him to expect surprises to happen. He knew what was coming and he knew he didn’t want to stop it.

So, when he felt lips push against his own he closed his eyes and let them, then pushed back, breathing in sharply through his nose as the rush of blood through his body made his lungs burn for air. Dave’s hand was at the back of his neck, spreading goose bumps wherever he touched him. A second kiss happened, then a third, and soon he couldn’t keep track, and they kissed until they were tired of the dew soaking their clothes.


	4. Chapter 4

“What in gog’s name are they doing!?” Karkat yelled angrily, both John and him having kept their distance behind Dave and Tavros until they watched Dave hop on the back of Tavros’ wheelchair, the pair plummeting downwards. Karkat was red in the face as he tried to run toward them, cursing and struggling as John restrained him.

“W-Wait, Karkat! They’re fine. I’ve seen Dave go down that thing on his skateboard like, a million times!” He has his arms securely around Karkat’s middle, his face pressed against the back of the troll’s head.

“T-That douche bag doesn’t know that Tavros is afraid of heights. He’s probably giving him a heart attack.” Karkat’s voice was strained. Eventually he made it to the edge of the hill, John finally managing to trip him so that they fell to the ground, watching the two at the bottom, army-style. It looked like Tavros had fallen out of his chair, but he was still, propped up on his arms and talking to Dave in the grass. Definitely not freaking out.

“See? He’s fine. You’re worried over nothing. Dave’s just always doing things like that. Tavros knows, or he wouldn’t want to hang out with him. Don’t forget we’ve known him since the beginning of high school, Karkat.” John’s eyes watered a bit in the sunset.

“So? You better tell that asshole not to do that shit with Tavros.” Karkat made a frustrated growl, crossing his arms in front of him and muttering into the fabric of his shirt. “I’m guessing he never told you how he was paralyzed, or maybe your fucking idiot shit-for-brains wouldn’t pull crap like that. Did you ever contemplate that?” Karkat lifted his head and turned toward John, fuming. “Did that thought ever penetrate the miles of bone that makes up your skull?”

John didn’t say anything for a few moments, wishing that their conversation could be as serene as the one below looked.

“You have a point, there. I’ll talk to Dave.” He rested his face in his hands, vaguely aware that his shirt was getting wet in the grass.

“That’s right, you will. Maybe you’re not as hopeless as I…thought—” Karkat’s yellow eyes went wide as he turned back just in time to see Dave and Tavros pressing their faces together. John stared down at them, mouth agape. They watched them in silence, eyes glued to the scene before them as their collective curiosity demanded that they watched. John said nothing until he saw Dave pull Tavros on top of him, realizing that they were being pretty creepy. And that it was Dave he was watching, completely different from Matthew McConaughey.

“I think we should go now. And…maybe if Tavros is uncomfortable enough with Dave riding his wheelchair, he can tell him himself.” John blushed, feeling his face become almost unbearably warm.

Karkat didn’t say anything, a noticeable blush having overtaken his face. Both of them were embarrassed, and John, who had gotten up and was watching Karkat as he had only just begun to do so, kept glancing down at the now couple. He seemed to be unable to help himself. Karkat wasn’t even trying to resist watching as if it were a feature film.

“Come on, Karkat. Let’s go watch a movie.” He held his hand out to the troll, who took it, begrudgingly, neither saying anything on the way to John’s house.

 

When they finally got there, the room was instantly filled with awkwardness, the memory of what they had just witnessed overtaking their ability to think about much else.

“U-uh. So. My shirt’s wet, I’m going to change. Do you want one too?” John headed toward the stairs.

“Yeah, thanks.” Karkat scratched the back of his head.

“You can come up; I have a TV in my room. My dad might want to use the one down here when he comes home.” John beckoned gracelessly, starting to climb the stairs once Karkat nodded and made to follow him.

Upstairs he pulled out his wind shirt, one he liked very much, as well as his slime ghost shirt, handing it to Karkat when he came in. Karkat took it, studying the emblem on the front with a raised eyebrow.

“Wow, seriously, Egbert?” He held it out in front of him. “Your geek knows no bounds.”

“Haha. You…uh. Sound like Dave.” John replied, slipping off his shirt and smiling at Karkat, finding himself strangely comfortable with Karkat’s insults.

“You sound like Tavros.” Karkat commented offhandedly as he pulled his own sopping shirt off, pausing when he realized what he had just said. “Oh gog. Let’s forget I ever said that. Fuck.” Karkat hurriedly put John’s shirt on, shoving the hem down over his stomach quickly and walking over to John’s movie collection, flipping through his tapes. John blushed furiously, sincerely trying to forget their brief conversation.

“Just pick out whatever you like, and I’ll go make us some popcorn.” John hurried downstairs, relieved to get away from Karkat for a moment. It’s not that he didn’t like him—he’d already proved himself a strangely compassionate person, though he had an equally as strange way of going about it. But watching Tavros and Dave connect so quickly and easily made John wonder about himself. He insisted that he liked women—his heart indeed burned for Liv Tyler—but other than his embarrassing secret celebrity crush, he had never found himself attracted to any other girl that he had met. He actually found it easy being around girls, but never once had he thought about asking them out.

Absentmindedly, he put a bag of popcorn in the microwave, pressing the appropriate buttons and hoisting himself on the counter as he waited. He allowed himself to indulge in the idea he had been suppressing ever since watching Dave and Tavros kiss. What if he were to date Karkat? Instantly, two emotions began competing for dominance—the fact that he had never thought of himself as someone who was attracted to men, and the idea that being with Karkat, someone who he had only just met, didn’t sound so bad.

He groaned. What was wrong with him!? The microwave beeped, and John quickly took the popcorn out, emptying it into a bowl and heading upstairs. Karkat had picked out Fool’s Gold, one of the worst and satisfying romantic comedies John owned. It wasn’t long before they were set up, Karkat sitting against the foot of John’s bed, John laying on his stomach so their heads were close, the popcorn on the floor within reach.

The first thirty minutes were filled with the usual sarcasm that John had grown so accustomed to in so short a time, but as the plot devices began to bombard the characters almost relentlessly, and the relationship between Finn and Tess grew more complicated, Karkat was rendered silent by his own fascination. John had seen this movie more times than he was comfortable admitting (even to himself), and found that he was more entertained watching Karkat’s reactions than the movie itself. He would definitely have to show him Con Air.

 

This movie, Karkat decided, wasn’t so bad. In fact, it was good. He would never say that, though, the popcorn passing his lips almost automatically. John’s face was so close…the whole movie he never moved, and occasionally during a tense part Karkat could feel John’s eyes on him, and he knew the dorky human thought his reactions were funny. And at the end, when Tess and Finn finally reconciled their emotions, kissing romantically in their enviable tropical environment, Karkat was overcome with the same feeling he had been struck with, before, watching the Dave human kiss someone he had once cared so much about.

Sentiment.

Amorousness.

Lust.

It wasn’t as though he hadn’t felt these before, but now it was stronger, more pertinent, more forcefully thrusting its way to the forefront of his consciousness. Before he had always had trouble understanding what he felt, if it was anything at all—always too late in his realizations. Now it was clear, and tormenting him. What was worse was that John’s face was still so close, even as the credits rolled, not even asking if he liked it. His face grew hot for what seemed like the twentieth time that day. It was now nighttime, the room was dark, and he couldn’t decide on what to do.

“Alright!” John sat up, and Karkat could breathe a sigh of relief while ignoring the sinking feeling in his chest. “Do you live far from here, Kar? I could walk you home. Or my dad could drive us, I think he’s back now.”

“I’m not some pansy-ass nooksucker like you, John. I can make it home without your protection.” Karkat said curtly. John grinned.

“I thought as much. I may need my memory wiped if those two douche bags are still smooching in the park, though. I think I’ve had enough romance for one day.” Karkat followed John downstairs, swiping his shirt on the way. It was still damp, and rather chilly outside… “Can I uh. Wear this home? I don’t want to freeze.”

“Of course, just give it back whenever you feel like it.” John’s friendliness was almost too much to bear. He resisted the urge to…well. He wasn’t sure. But there was certainly an urge there. He thanked him curtly for the shirt, and walked out into the night, able to breathe again once John shut the door.

Despite being able to understand his own feelings, he had never been more confused in his life.


	5. Chapter 5

A week passed, and the two boys had many awkward encounters until they had finally become used to seeing each other. By the following Friday John’s thoughts could not be suppressed any longer, and often he would catch himself fantasizing, playing out scenarios in his mind—though most of them were what it would be like when Karkat watched Con Air for the first time with him. It would be great—Karkat would resist at first, but soon be as taken as he was with Nic Cage’s golden interior, and admirably rough exterior.

But until then, John tried to keep his distance, still a bit rattled at his newfound infatuation. He wanted to talk to Dave, but he wasn’t sure he could handle the comments, since John had staunchly defended his heterosexuality so faithfully before. He wasn’t sure if there was anyone he could trust to confide in, especially when all he really needed was some advice on how to pursue the matter—if at all. There wasn’t any guarantee that Karkat would ever return his feelings.

Finally, after saying goodbye to his friends and heading straight home, John plopped down at his computer and scrolled through his friends on pesterchum. Not many people were on at the time, after all, he had rushed a bit after school. Everyone was probably out, doing Friday things, instead of worrying about their social live and seeking answers on the computer.

There were two people on, though. Dave, who was always on, his iPhone practically never out of battery power, and Tavros.

Tavros…

Biting his lip, he tentatively opened a chatbox, clicking on Tavros’ trolltag and, taking a breath, began to type.

\-- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering adiosToreador [AT] at 16:15 –  
EB: hey, Tavros!  
AT: jOHN, hEY, wHATS UP }:)  
EB: nothing much. Well  
EB: actually, I wanted to talk to you about some stuff. if that’s okay, I mean.  
EB: I’m not sure I could really talk to anyone else about it.  
AT: wOW, i DON’T KNOW IF I SHOULD BE ENTRUSTED, wITH THE RESPONSIBILITY,  
AT: bUT I’LL TRY MY BEST,  
EB: thanks man.

John took a deep breath, wondering where to begin.

EB: I think I might have...just the teeniest bit of a crush on someone.  
EB: a troll.  
AT: uHH, wOAH,,  
EB: yeah.  
EB: and I know you and Dave are dating  
EB: so I thought maybe you could help me out a bit. I’m not entirely sure how to approach the matter. or even if I would be successful.  
AT: wELL,  
AT: i’M NOT REALLY, sOMEONE PEOPLE GO TO FOR DATING ADVICE, i DON’T KNOW,,,  
EB: if you don’t want to, you don’t have to! like I said before, I just don’t know who else to ask.  
AT: oKAY, uHH, iF YOU’RE THAT IN NEED OF ADVICE,  
AT: aND ALSO, hOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT,  
AT: mE AND DAVE,  
EB: Karkat and I saw you guys last week. you were rolling down a hill.  
AT: oH GOG, i KNEW WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN,  
AT: mORE DISCREET,,,  
EB: it’s okay, I won’t tell anyone!  
AT: tHANKS,  
EB: no problem. anyway  
EB: how did Dave get you to date him? I mean...what kinds of things did he do?  
AT: oH JEGUS, wELL WHEN IT STARTED, i WAS KIND OF CAUGHT OF GUARD, i DON’T THINK HE REALLY NEEDED TO DO MUCH OF ANYTHING,  
AT: iT JUST KIND OF HAPPENED, aND I THINK IT WAS, sOMETHING OF A NATURAL DEVELOPMENT,  
EB: oh...so he didn’t do anything special?  
AT: uHH, nO, hE JUST KIND OF STAYED THE PERSON HE WAS, eXCEPT MORE KISSING,  
AT: gOG, tHIS IS EMBARASSING,  
EB: you don’t need to get too into detail.  
AT: tHANK JEGUS,  
EB: hehehe  
EB: do you think there’s something special I might do? anything trolls like especially when it comes to  
EB: oh gog. court...ship?  
AT: eVERYONE’S DIFFERENT, i DON’T THINK THERE’S ANY ONE THING YOU CAN DO,  
AT: tO ATTRACT A TROLL, jUST LIKE WITH HUMANS,  
EB: dang.  
AT: i BET KARKAT, cOULD GIVE YOU, sOME TIPS OR SUGGESTIONS, hE WAS KIND OF A,  
AT: rOM-COM FANATIC, bACK IN THE DAY, aND,  
AT: i WOULDN’T BE SURPRISED IF HE STILL WAS,  
EB: ...  
EB: I definitely cannot ask him.  
AT: i KNOW IT’S EMBARASSING, bUT, kARKAT IS SURPRISINGLY UNDERSTANDING, aBOUT THESE THINGS,  
EB: it’s not that. I just  
EB: ...out of all the people I can’t talk to about this, he’s number one on the list.  
AT: iT’S HIM, iSN’T IT,  
EB: jegus.  
AT: oH GOSH, wELL, i SUPPOSE IF ANYONE COULD HANDLE HIM,  
AT: iT WOULD BE YOU,  
EB: that’s awfully nice of you to say.  
AT: iT’S TRUE,  
AT: i THINK YOU MIGHT, bE ABLE TO GAIN MORE OF A HANDLE ON kARKAT THAN YOU THINK,  
EB: what? Really?  
AT: yEAH, gIVE ME A WHILE AND I THINK I CAN COME UP WITH SOME GOOD ADVICE, wITH HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS,  
AT: iT’S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE WE TALKED,  
EB: that would be awesome, Tavros! anything helps. I feel totally in over my head.  
AT: nO PROBLEM, i UNDERSTAND, kARKAT IS INTIMIDATING TO ANYONE, nEW TO HIM,  
AT: i’LL TALK TO YOU LATER, mAYBE IT’S TIME I REKINDLED A FRIENSHIP, tHAT I KIND OF MESSED UP,  
EB: good luck! um. don’t tell him about this, okay?  
AT: oF COURSE,  
EB: thanks, Tavros.  
AT: yOU’RE WELCOME, i’LL SEE YOU AROUND,  
EB: see you!  
\-- adiosToreador [AT] ceased trolling ectoBiologist [EB] at 16:34 --

Leaning back, John stared at the screen for a moment, replaying some of the conversation in his mind. Perhaps this wasn’t so pointless after all…Tavros’ words were fairly encouraging, and he didn’t try to tell him not to. He twiddled his fingers, deciding to watch a movie to take his mind off of things.

As soon as Karkat got home, he flopped onto his bed, grabbing his laptop and flipping it open quickly. His fingers grazed the little crab stickers that Sollux, his best friend from his previous high school, had decorated the back with. He refused to take them off now that he had transferred. He missed some of his old friends, but they promised they would visit him.

As he opened Trollian he scanned the tags and handles, noticing John was idle. He bit his lip, wondering if he might want to try talking to him—but about what? He just didn’t have the guts right now. Suddenly a new chat window popped up—Tavros. He was wondering when they would get to talk again, without the hindrance of their peers listening in. He had admittedly been logging on less during the past week, but only because he was a bit nervous as to what they might say.

 

\-- adiosToreador [AT] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 17:00 --

AT: kARKAT, wHATS UP,  
CG: NOTHING MUCH TAVROS. THOUGH THERE WILL BE PROBLEMS IF WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH ANY OF THOSE SHITTY RHYMES YOU USED TO LAMBAST ME WITH IN MIDDLE SCHOOL.  
AT: hAHA, nO, jUST THOUGHT MAYBE I WOULD SAY HI,  
AT: iT’S BEEN A WHILE, tOO LONG, i NEED TO APOLOGIZE PROPERLY TO YOU,  
CG: FOR WHAT, GETTING PARALYZED? I HARDLY THING THAT’S SOMETHING YOU NEED TO FEEL SORRY FOR. IT WASN’T EITHER OF US THAT DID IT.  
AT: nO, bUT I SHOULDN’T HAVE STOPPED TALKING TO YOU,  
AT: yOU AND GAMZEE WERE MY CLOSEST FRIENDS, aND THEN YOU LEFT TO A DIFFERENT SCHOOL THAN US AND I JUST, i DON’T KNOW,  
CG: YEAH.  
AT: i’M SORRY,  
CG: I KNOW YOU ARE. I’M SORRY TOO MAN.  
AT: iF IT HELPS, gAMZEE AND I NEVER REALLY TALKED ABOUT IT EITHER,  
AT: tHOUGH GAMZEE HAS A LOT OF, hIS OWN STUFF TO DEAL WITH,  
CG: LISTEN  
CG: LET’S HANG OUT MORE, OKAY? WE NEED TO CATCH UP.  
CG: I NEED TO KNOW WHETHER THIS STRIDER DOUCHE IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU.  
AT: hAHA, oKAY, tHOUGH I THINK JOHN CAN HELP CONVINCE YOU,  
CG: I’M SURE HE’D FAIL SPECTACULARLY. THAT LITTLE DUMPASS NERDFACE PROBABLY LUSTS AFTER DAVE MORE THAN YOU DO.  
AT: tHAT’S AN INTERESTING THING TO SAY, wHEN I ACTUALLY HAVE PROOF THAT ISN’T TRUE,  
CG: WHAT  
AT: i MEAN,  
AT: lOOK AT THE TIME,  
AT: iS A GREAT WAY TO END A CONVERSATION,  
\-- adiosToreador [AT] ceased trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 17:07 --

 

Karkat frowned at the screen before throwing his laptop shut, unable to stop his chest from aching at the idea that John might already like someone. And why was Tavros so unwilling to tell him? He pushed the fleeting hope from his mind that it could be himself—of course at this point he wanted it to be himself. Something about the adorable fuckass was implanting itself in his heart, and there was little he could do to stop it. When he had first seen John in the video store, staring at him like he was from another planet, Karkat immediately shoved him into a dark corner of his mind, a deep shade of grey.

But…something about his friendship, awkward though it was in the last week, was comforting after a bit of a rough move. Unlike Sollux, with whom he would bicker nonstop like a brother, John was willing to concede with his arguments. John gave him little resistance, though he was slowly learning, and through this he seemed to be letting him in.

Karkat got up to take a walk, stopping shortly to grind his forehead against the doorway in frustration. He needed advice, and soon. Tavros was obviously unwilling to talk to him about anything, which he felt a bit strange about—weren’t they supposed to be catching up? Sollux wouldn’t give him advice. He had always just kind of snickered at Karkat’s relationship issues, though even when it got serious, he was never full of good ideas.

He needed someone who knew John, someone who could give him advice relating specifically to the human. Who did he know that was close?

Oh.

Strider, John’s best friend, would certainly be able to help him. When provoked, the usually stoic and quiet blonde would rustle up a slew of clever poetry to throw at whoever offended him, and if the victim had no practice in defending themselves against his words, they would crumple. Karkat figured this must be a sign that Dave had enough thoughts in his head to give advice, even if it was to the only person who seemed to be commanding as much attention from John as he was.

He would have to wait, to see if there was an alternative. He didn’t want to give in to needing Strider’s smug counseling just yet. Maybe he could figure it out for himself.


	6. Chapter 6

For John, Monday couldn’t come soon enough. He knew he wouldn’t quite know what to do about his growing feelings for Karkat, but the thought of seeing him again felt exciting. Not a lot of his classmates really seemed to accept Karkat as their friend, though he did know quite a few of them. It wasn’t hard to guess why he was so unpopular.

But John knew the other sides of Karkat, even if he only showed it briefly or had to hear about it from Tavros—one of the few to whom he didn’t give a lot of flak. He hadn’t officially gotten any other advice from Tavros yet, though he had already made him feel confident. It wasn’t until Monday at lunch that John really got to talk to Karkat, who hadn’t said much that morning during math. Something understandable, since staring at numbers at 8 am wasn’t exactly the most stimulating activity.

“So Karkat,” John spoke up eagerly, unfazed by the mild irritated expression Karkat wore. “I was thinking that since we have Wednesday off, you could come over again and we could watch another movie.” He ignored Dave’s snort from next to him, cheeks turning a mild pink as he realized that Tavros may have told him about his crush—or that he simply figured it out. Dave was rather receptive as a result from observing more than speaking.

“I don’t know if I could stomach another one of your human movies. The first one was mind numbing as fuck.” He spat, before shoving a mouth full of school bought spaghetti into his mouth.

“I know you liked it, Karkat.” John beamed, nudging him in the side. “How about you bring one of your movies, then? We could watch more than one.” He bit his lip, something he was used to, since his front teeth often protruded from his mouth. Karkat looked at him, thinking it over, John noticing a slight tinge of red on his cheeks as well. The fact that his blood was red fascinated John as much as everything else unusual about him, but it was special—for some reason, even though the hierarchy associated with the hemospectrum died out long ago, their shared color made John feel that much closer to him.

“I guess. Though I doubt you’d be able to comprehend the complicated web of romance spun with each character’s separate actions with that one-track, linear mind of yours.” Karkat bit into his garlic bread with and unexplained bout of anger.

“I can always try! I have to start somewhere, right?” John giggled. Dave leaned forward on the table, turning his head toward him and pulling his shades down half an inch, looking at him seriously through his sanguine eyes. He then glanced to Karkat, who studied him in return, suddenly appearing uneasy.

“I guess we’ve got a masochist on our hands.” Dave spoke simply, John frowning dramatically as he felt blood rush to his face. Tavros’ skin was painted copper, surprised even that Dave would say something like that so out of the blue. Karkat opened his mouth to yell, but was interrupted by sudden contact against his cheek.

It was a tongue, to be exact. None other than Terezi Pyrope, their hyper-sensitive blind troll acquaintance, had appeared from out of nowhere and dragged her tongue across his cheek. Karkat was frozen in shock, his eyes squinting up at her, clutching his fork as though he were about to ward her off with its sauce-covered tines.

“Karkat!” she yelled happily, throwing her arms around his waist and squeezing. “It’s been so long, too long since I’ve gotten to smell the wonderful aroma of red on grey.” He placed her head against his back, turning it sideways and addressing Dave. “Hey, coolkid.” She said, Dave nodding as he leaned back and placed an arm across Tavros’ shoulders. It was the first expression of any sort of intimacy that the two had displayed since John and Karkat had seen them kiss.

“Terezi, that’s not exactly the kind of greeting I want, especially from you.” Karkat’s teeth were grinding together, his arms working to push the troll off. Terezi just laughed, letting go and sitting next to them.

“How have you been doing? We never talked once you left us.” She assumed an interested pose while Karkat appeared stiff, like he wanted to leave.

“Listen, Terezi. Let’s talk after school, okay?” The bell rang, quite conveniently. Karkat got up, Terezi pouting her lips and raising and eyebrow as she followed suit. John frowned, feeling quite confused after all that had happened. Did everyone he knew go to middle school with Karkat? And what did Dave mean by masochist? He wasn’t sure he wanted him to expand.

After school, Terezi showed up as promised, escorting Karkat from the room before John could even say goodbye. Ignoring the pit of disappointment that he had in his stomach, knowing that he lost his chance to walk home with Karkat since they lived in the same direction, he hung back with Tavros and Dave as they headed outside.

“So you’re gonna hang out with that stumpy horned hard-ass on Wednesday and ditch us, huh?” Dave spoke up as they walked toward the corner at which Dave and Tavros’ paths split. “I told you, you’re a masochist for wanting to hang out with that guy.”

“I’m not a masochist!” John retorted, calming down a bit to come up with a good reply without babbling. “He sounds mean, but it’s easy to look past all the crap once you’ve gotten used to it.”

“Whatever you say, John. I’ll see you guys later.” Dave casually turned down the sidewalk toward his house, Tavros and John saying their goodbyes.

“Bye, Tavros.” John smiled, about to leave until Tavros stopped him.

“John, before you go.” Tavros stammered a bit, tugging on his arm and watching Dave disappear down the street. “I thought of some useful advice you could use with Karkat. Terezi reminded me…it’s actually things about Karkat that you might like to know.” John looked down curiously at Tavros, considering him for a moment before sliding his backpack off his back and sitting on the curb next to his wheelchair.

“Alright.”

“Well, in middle school, Terezi and Karkat had a bit of a…a thing.” Tavros began, pulling a lighter from one of his front pockets and playing with it, letting the flame flicker in the growing dusk. “Terezi was straightforward with her emotions, but, Karkat was not. Uhh, he was pretty confused about the whole thing.”

“Huh…” John said, to show that he was listening. Both boys watched the lighter flicker, deep in thought.

“So Terezi kind of got fed up with him.” Tavros said a bit quietly, “She stopped flushing for him…just as Karkat decided what he wanted. But it was too late. I don’t know if he’s so much the same now, as he was then, but just in case…I wouldn’t come on too strongly.” Tavros slipped the lighter back into his pocket. “Take things slow, so he has time…to process everything. Otherwise he might get scared, and push you away.”

“Wow…thanks, Tavros. That is really helpful.” John smiled up at him.

“Well…you’re welcome!” Tavros grinned, and John could see why Dave might find his slightly crooked teeth so charming in such an endearing expression. “Also, I thought about how you might lead him into thinking, some of the same things about you, as you have about him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, well. I was thinking about how Dave treats me, and. Maybe you should try touching him more often. On his arm and stuff like that.” Tavros blushed, looking away for a bit.

“That makes sense…” John said with hesitation. Tavros sure seemed to get shy with this kind of thing.

“Yeah and. Trolls, well they have this thing, where they. Oh gosh.” Tavros swallowed, taking the lighter out quickly again and flicking it repeatedly. “Our horns are especially sensitive, so, if you manage to, try to brush them…o-or something.”

“That…sounds good…”

“Yeah. It’s the most sensitive place, on a troll, that you can touch…w-without being too inappropriate.” Tavros blushed down at him. “Though in certain contexts, it’s totally lewd.”

“T-Thanks.” John scratched at his burning skin. “Anything else?”

“No, thank gog.” Tavros pulled the brake on his wheelchair, pushing it gently back and forth. “I need to go home now.”

“Yeah, me too.” John stood, slipping his backpack on once more, fidgeting as he said goodbye to Tavros. “See you tomorrow.” Tavros waved.

“Good luck, John.”


	7. Chapter 7

It was to be expected that on Tuesday night, Tavros found himself in Dave’s house, enjoying his evening away from keeping up with schoolwork and the stress of grades. What he didn’t expect, however, was to find himself in Dave’s room, lying down on his bed, with the senior’s hands touching practically every part of his body as he fought to hold back his gasps.

He wove his fingers into the blonde’s hair, who leaned down and kissed Tavros’ neck. This was the first time Tavros had been touched so intimately, at least in someone else’s bed, and not by himself. It may have been faster than he had expected their relationship to go, but there was no chance he would stop it. Dave straddled him; pushing their hips together in the most pleasurable way and making Tavros lose his breath temporarily.

Before long Dave’s hand was unbuttoning his shorts, unzipping them swiftly, and teasing his fingers along the lining of his boxers. Tavros learned that he was almost no good at stifling his moans, though the noise only seemed to provide motivation for Dave, who grazed his hand along his erection tenderly. It made Tavros sweat slightly; the way Dave made him feel so eager for more.

It was at this inopportune moment that Dave’s iPhone decided to ring, and to Tavros’ utmost surprise the blonde began to stroke him, while reaching over to pick up the phone and answer its caller. Tavros clapped his hand over his mouth, the intensity of Dave’s grip at that point where it was just short of painful, the best pressure, movements facilitated by the copious amounts of precum that had already escaped.

“Sup.” Dave’s voice was perfectly calm, the most nonchalant he had ever been, the hand not gripping the iPhone jacking him off quickly. Tavros’ hips bucked only as much as he could, his abdomen doing most of the work.

“Dave, its Karkat.” The coolkid was more than surprised to hear Karkat’s voice on the other line, wondering how he managed to get his number. He shrugged inwardly—there were a lot of ways.

“Hey. What’s up, my fine stumpy horned friend?” His voice was almost endearing in its insult. Tavros quickly reached for a pillow, shoving it over his face and moaning as quietly as he could into it.

“Fuck you. I need some…ahh…advice.” Dave leaned down, dragging his tongue across the head of Tavros’ cock as he listened. The genetic material tasted awful, he decided.

“Well I’d love to help your sorry ass out of any knots you may have gotten your panties into, but I’m indisposed as of this moment. I’ll be at the skate park practicing my new board tomorrow at noon if you’re okay to talk then.” He could hear Karkat grumble on the other line, surprised he hadn’t asked about the distant whimpers of pleasure he may or may not have been hearing.

“That’s fine, I’ll see you then.” The troll’s voice could not have sounded grumpier, but apparently accepted this compromise as they hung up.

“You can take the pillow off, Tav.” Dave said as he removed it from Tavros’ grip. He leaned down, taking his cock in his mouth, and not two seconds later Tavros came, unable to find the breath needed to warn Dave before coppery brown genetic material flowed gracelessly into his mouth. Dave sputtered and coughed, his aviator shades—now on the side table, rather than his face—unable to hide the surprised expression he wore from the sheer amount of fluids. “That tastes terrible.” Dave coughed.

“Sorry…” Tavros breathed, almost heaving from the effort. Dave wiped his mouth as he smacked his lips a little as if trying out a new dish, leaning over to grab a bunch of tissues and mop up the mess left on Tavros’ stomach. This wasn’t going to be easy to get out—thank goodness Bro never did the laundry himself.

Any disturbance was forgotten; however, as Tavros leaned up as much as he could, forcefully gripping Dave’s shirt in the most valiant act of self expression he had ever participated in, and pulled their lips together. Arousal in the troll renewed—Dave supposed it was a troll thing to get hard again so quickly—they repeated the process once more.


	8. Chapter 8

Karkat groaned as he checked his watch. Strider was late, and even when he knew that it wasn’t as though they had some sort of set appointment, he still felt on edge. There was going to be a lot to deal with whenever the self-righteous skaterkid decided to show up, and he wanted to get it over with so he could go to John’s house with whatever Dave had to tell him. Disgruntled that he had to wait, Karkat leaned forward on one of the bars, watching the other kids skate.

Finally he heard Dave’s board arrive, turning, and his greeting was like hearing the devil sing with angel’s chords.

“What’s up.” Dave comes to a stop abruptly, setting his board on the railing and leaning over the rung, turning to face Karkat. “So what kind of advice does a self-sufficient troll like you need to hear from me so badly?” The sarcasm in his tone was clear.

“John’s your best friend, right?” Karkat began, mulling over how he might ask for help from Dave, whose smirk grew, as if he knew why Karkat was asking.

“I know that kid better than he knows himself.” Dave leaned forward, the afternoon light playing off of his fair skin. “That’s what you want, right? You need to know what’ll get him.”

“What the fuck do you know about what I want?” Karkat replied, flushing and grumbling further, sitting down and weaving his torso between the metal of the railing as he concentrated for a minute on a particularly skilled skater taking advantage of a momentary absence of others. “…But yeah. Pretty much.”

“Well I can tell you that filling pails isn’t exactly his idea of sexy, so I would avoid that shit until you’ve got him.” Karkat growled, knowing that Dave was the sort who liked to exploit the tender subject that pails were for trolls. “But Egbert has trouble acknowledging the fact that hot movie stars named Liv Tyler aren’t the only component to the confusion that defines his sexuality. So be aware of that.”

“Well this doesn’t help much.” Karkat sighed.

“I have a surefire way that’ll help you out, though.” Dave seemed to relish in the fact that he knew something Karkat didn’t. “Don’t watch your alien movies when you get there. Watch Con Air. It’s John’s favorite movie—anyone who likes it is pretty much automatically good in his book for life.” He turned to Karkat meaningfully, “Even Vriska.”

“Vriska!?” Karkat yelled, banging his head against the railing.

“That’s just how fucking pure John’s heart is, Karkat. Even the blackest motherfucker has John’s sympathy.” Dave had a serene expression on his face. “So if Vriska can get on his good side, you should have no problem getting into his bed.” Karkat groaned, rubbing the back of his head.

“That’s not what I want, you smart-mouthed idiot.” Karkat replied angrily. “I mean…I don’t know, fuck.”

“I get it dude.” Dave spoke with the first kind words he had ever given the troll. “It’s John, there’s not a lot to understand there.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, both boys deep in thought as they stared into space. Finally Dave patted Karkat’s shoulder congenially, encouraging him to pull himself to stand. Dave bent over, retrieving his board and stepping onto it easily.

“Well, I’m gonna play. Might do something interesting if you hang around. Otherwise, good luck at John’s.” Dave set off, Karkat watching him roll around for a few minutes before turning and heading back home. It wasn’t much, but at least he had something. And an unexpected source of empathy from someone he surely thought wouldn’t understand. It made him feel strangely content, for once. And that was nice.

 

Mere hours later John found himself welcoming Karkat into his home for the second time, giddy from just having finished a Faygo, nervous about the fact that the troll hadn’t actually brought any movies like he said he would. As the sugar rush overtook him he ushered Karkat upstairs, popcorn already made and sugary snacks laid out carefully.

“S-So…you don’t mind watching one of my movies again?” John walked over to his shelf, thumbing through the titles. “I have a lot, so you could choose anything you want. I even bought some non-McConaughey movies in case you might want to see them. That video store was so cheap, it was hard not to.”

“Alright…” Karkat crouched down next to John, their elbows brushing. John was swiftly reminded of Tavros’ advice, tentatively leaning in to the touch as Karkat surveyed his choices. He was quickly distracted though, watching in disbelief as Karkat seemed to come to a decision, pulling out Con Air and handing it to him.

“T-This one? Really?” John was astonished, clutching the movie in his hands as if it were the last existing copy. “This is my favorite movie, Karkat…” He spoke the words slowly, importantly, unable to find the words that might properly portray his emotions at the moment in time.

“Is it now?” Karkat flopped onto John’s bed, casually snacking on the popcorn in the bowl. John blushed. Had Karkat ever acted like this before? Did he expect John to sit on the ground, or would he be okay if he were to lay next to him?

“Yeah…it really is. You’ll love it.” John pushed the movie into the player and, with courage, settled himself next to Karkat. He sat up, instead of laying on his belly like the troll, not yet ready to appear obviously attracted to him. As the movie started he grew a bit preoccupied with his horns, seeing himself reaching over and swirling his fingers around it, wondering how Karkat would react. But as the movie played, he couldn’t help but become immersed in the story as usual.

Eventually, sitting up without something to lean against wore him down, John giving in and lying down as well. Karkat didn’t seem to mind, absently chewing on a gusher as the lights from the TV screen played across his face. It was the first time John had ever paid any attention to anything other than his favorite movie while it was playing. It felt strange. Goose bumps appeared on his arms.

Everything changed, however, as the last scene played out, How do I Live starting up, John’s heartstrings pulled by little Casey’s expression as she hugged her father for the first time. It brought a tear to his eye, biting his lip furiously and doing nothing to stop his emotions from intertwining with the characters playing on screen. Karkat didn’t look at him, though when he glanced over, a light pink seemed to color his face. Or was that the television? John wiped away a tear, getting up slowly as he fumbled to turn on the light. It was dark outside now, and John felt an unusual tension between himself and Karkat, John mentally kicking himself for not making more physical contact with him—but at least it adhered to Tavros’ other words of advice, to take it slowly.

But he was becoming impatient, and his increasing awareness of his attraction to Karkat wasn’t helping his finesse—or lack thereof—when it came to being around the angry troll. Gingerly he sat back down on the bed, Karkat turning sideways so he could face John. It was a position that made him blush.

“So did you like it?”

“Eh…most of it was crap. But I could watch it again.” Karkat said offhandedly, John breaking into a wide smile. It was better than he could have expected, that was for certain.

“Do you want to watch another? Usually I watch Con Air a few times in a row, but you’re company! We can choose whatever you want.” John tentatively nudged his hand with the top of his foot, wondering if it counted as contact. Karkat screwed up his face, and John couldn’t tell if he was stifling a laugh, or had stomach pains.

“E-Egbert. You watch it more than once in a sitting?” Karkat grabbed a pillow, bringing it up to his face and smashing it into his head. “How are you this nerdy!?”

“Heh…I don’t know! It’s hard not to, I get a little addicted.” He burned with embarrassment. Karkat threw the pillow at his face this time, John catching the full force of the cotton load right on his nose as the troll rolled over and off the bed.

Karkat grabbed a bunch of movies, sitting back against the bed to rifle through them. His nubby horns shone brightly in his dark hair, like jewels. Suddenly John felt like Abu in the Cave of Wonders, feeling the irresistible urge to reach out and fondle them. He settled for a friendly hair-tousle, brushing each horn quickly several times.

The reaction was instantaneous and terrifying. John half expected Karkat to jump up screaming, but instead he stopped looking at the movies, turning a deep shade of red (John had grown quite used to the pinks before) and becoming stiff as a board. John slowly withdrew his hand, biting his lip and feeling a bit warmer than usual.

“You okay, Karkat?”

“Don’t touch the h-horns, fuckass. How would you like it if I just stuck my hands down your pants?” His voice was strained, anger seeping through like steam in a tea kettle. John ignored the sudden rush of blood to his groin and stayed quiet, watching as Karkat put another movie in and stood up, walking to the light to turn it off, the darkness diffusing some of the tension.

Whatever movie played next John barely paid any attention to, as Karkat decided to park himself right next to John, who was afraid he might have taken it a step too far. But no, as the movie went on, their knees seemed to be touching continually, and slowly, eventually, Johns’ entire right side was leaning up against Karkat’s left. Karkat never said anything, and John was struck by the fact that he had said barely a word since he walked in the door, and he couldn’t help but ponder the possible reasons.

When the end of the movie came and Karkat mentioned that he had to go home, John reluctantly pushed off of the troll, accompanying him downstairs to the door. He had so many questions but all of them would push Karkat away, so he stayed silent for the most part.

“See you at school tomorrow.” John smiled, trying to stay cheery even through the slew of emotions he felt. And then it happened again, John found himself reaching toward Karkat’s arm, but the troll turned, and instead his hand brushed his ribcage, and his eyes widened as it followed the contour of his torso down to his hips before he finally had the good sense to withdraw it. Karkat looked surprised, and John felt it even more than he appeared. “H-Have a safe walk!”

“You too, Egbert.” Karkat murmured, before realizing the logic of his words. “I mean, see you at school, yeah.” The troll turned to go, and John felt a little bit of the tension departing with him, leaving John in his home, alone, to mull over what seemed like the almost certain futility of his actions.


	9. Chapter 9

It was the weekend, and as soon as he woke up Saturday morning Karkat dressed himself as quickly as possible, slammed down breakfast, and waited like a dog for the very person he most needed to see at that moment.

No, it wasn’t John—not right now. John had done nothing but increase the tension between them tenfold, no, one hundred fold, and Karkat needed a break. He desperately needed to get himself out of this funk, and clear his mind, so he could look at the human who was filling his head with so many confusing feelings through a sharper lens.

The doorbell could not have rung sooner. His dad was still asleep, probably, though he wasn’t sure if he’d like to find out what he would say if he knew he was up so early on a weekend. His dad was kind of the opposite of most parents, almost encouraging him to slack off, always complaining about his school workload. But he banished these thoughts from his mind temporarily as he threw open the door, his best friend Sollux standing there, looking as lovably idiotic as ever with his dual hue glasses and laughably huge front teeth.

“Hey, KK.” The troll gave a wave, and Karkat was out the door, the two friends walking side by side as if nothing had ever separated them. “So what’s up? You sounded kind of…weird on the phone.” Sollux’s lisp was thicker than ever, but Karkat didn’t really have the capacity to put any effort into expressing his seething hatred for the very things about the troll that he missed so much.

“Gog, I don’t know, Sollux. Let’s talk about it in a while; I’m in the mood for some ice cream first.” Karkat shoved his hands in his pockets, rather aware of the high morning sun beating down on them—the last of the warm weather was giving them it’s all before fall came along, apparently. Sollux said nothing, probably aware of the fact that Karkat would be pouring his heart out as soon as he ingested a fair amount of sugar. It didn’t take much for his best friend to feel the need to confide.

Sure enough, as soon as they had gotten their cones stuffed full of their favorite flavors, Karkat’s strawberry (something Sollux never failed to scoff at), and his companion carrying a rather sizeable vanilla chocolate swirl, Karkat began to talk. They had walked to the park that, Karkat noticed in his middle school years, almost no one went to. Parking on the swings, it wasn’t difficult for Karkat to access all of the troubles plaguing his mind, ready to spill them to the person he trusted the most.

“So, it’s this dumpass human at school,” Karkat began after getting halfway through his ice cream, “that I have inexplicably found myself having feelings for.”

“Jegus, KK, that’s what it is? I thought someone had died. You always take relationships too seriously.” Sollux licked a bit of vanilla from his upper lip, appearing annoyed at this.

“Oh shut up, let me talk, okay? I don’t have anyone here, the least you could do is close your trap and listen.” Karkat spat back, angrily gnashing his sharp teeth. Sollux, against his usual character, fell quiet. “I’m not sure how to handle this. I’m so terrified I’m going to fuck it up like I did with Terezi, except for the even more confusing fact that I don’t know whether there’s any chance this John human has any feelings for me. Humans are different, and I don’t have a lot of experience with their behavior.”

“Maybe watching a human romance will help you out for once? I mean, you’ve always watched our troll redroms, maybe it’s time you branched out.” Sollux was so casual, it was infuriating.

“I have, Sollux, what do you think I’ve been doing? I’ve gone to John’s house and watched, like, three, all movies involving human romance. I don’t think any of the situations are applicable to our own.” Karkat sighed, the gravelly tone of his voice emphasized by the sound.

“Three probably doesn’t cut it, KK.” Sollux began to push back and forth on the swing he sat in, licking absentmindedly at his cone. “Plus you and I both know that movies don’t really give way to how the events unfold in real life. For all you know their fiction could be total fantasy, something they never see otherwise.”

“That’s optimistic of you.” Karkat grumbled. “I don’t know, all I really want is to stop thinking about it for a while.” He looked over at Sollux, who raised his eyebrows in return. “Want to go back to my house and play video games?”

“Yeah man, no one back home really rivals me quite as well as you do.” Sollux bit into his cone with gusto as they got up to walk back to Karkat’s house.

“Well I’m going to go ahead and take that as a compliment.”

Sollux, predictably, beat Karkat in almost every game they played. For the sake of competition they chose Mario Kart, arguing periodically over who got to be Yoshi or Luigi and, finally, Karkat managed to unlock the characters he hadn’t before—with Sollux’s help, of course. The shorter, angrier troll tried to pretend it didn’t bother him that Sollux was so much better at video games and computers, but it only served to motivate him to get better.

Before long it was time for Sollux to leave, and Karkat grabbed his keys and phone to walk his friend to the bus stop. He avoided acknowledging inevitable downtrodden feeling he would experience once he was gone, for now just enjoying the last of his company as they made their way toward the door. And when they opened it, his heart jumped directly into his throat.

John was standing, literally standing there with his hand outstretched toward the doorbell. For a few moments they all stood there, until John laughed nervously, scratching a finger at his face as if he had no idea what to do with his hands.

“I was just coming over to see if I could maybe borrow some of your movies, uh…if that’s okay with you.” John spoke, his voice wavering, clearly intimidated by Sollux. Sollux stood there with his usual poker face, leaning against the doorway and surveying the object of Karkat’s frustration as though he knew. And Karkat could tell that he knew.

“Uh…” Karkat looked at Sollux and back to John, who bit his lip, looking very much as though he didn’t want to be there. “Yeah, I’ll be right back.” And quickly he darted upstairs, wondering which movie he should pick.

Meanwhile, Sollux and John hung in uncomfortable silence, though John was sure that any discomfort was felt by himself alone—Sollux seemed like the type to be comfortable in any situation, something he had never experienced.

“So you’re John.” Sollux’s lisp became apparent immediately, but it didn’t seem to really matter, his tone collected and calm.

“Yeah. Are you one of Karkat’s friends from his old High School?” John inquired, looking down at his hands.

“Sollux, his best friend. But yeah, I do go where he used to. Are you and KK close already?” Sollux slipped his hands into his pockets, and John glanced up at his face, noticing the double set of horns, and the glasses—he speculated over whether Sollux liked 3D movies or if he just wore funky glasses all the time, but then he noticed that he didn’t have irises, just two different colored eyes to match his glasses. Almost like Terezi.

“Kind of. I’m uh…showing him around, I guess. We both like movies so we’ve been hanging out and doing that.” John was surprised when Sollux broke into a wide grin, his teeth much larger than Karkat’s or than any troll’s he had ever seen. If he had come across this guy in a dark alley, there was no question he would turn and run, despite the utter nerdiness he exuded otherwise.

John could not be happier when Karkat came down with a fistful of movies, quickly walking toward them and handing them over. John took them gingerly, wanting to show that he would take good care of Karkat’s precious collection.

“Thanks!” He stammered, looking at the covers with the ridiculously long titles, some even wrapping around both faces.

“How did you know how to get to my house?” Karkat asked grumpily, blushing, something that Sollux seemed to find even more amusing than their movie watching habits.

“Oh, well, Tavros told me. He said you don’t really mind visitors…” John glanced at Sollux as if to prove his point.

“Well, next time just call me first, okay. I could have been gone. What would you have done, wait on my doorstep? Idiot.” Karkat’s attitude actually served to relax John in the slightest, as though his anger was a pacifier to him.

“Sure thing, Karkat. I’ll see you around.” John turned and left, Karkat and Sollux standing on the doorstep for a few moments before Karkat closed the door behind them.

“So…” Sollux began, but Karkat quickly cut him off.

“Yes, I know. Shut up.” The shorter troll snapped, and both boys set off toward the bus stop.


	10. Chapter 10

Tavros enjoyed his time with Dave, one of the only people who seemed to be the master of wordless communication. They sat on the couch, watching TV, Dave never bothering to put his shirt back on from their earlier activities. His arm was slung around Tavros, and he could honestly not think of a time when he had been more at ease. He had successfully shown Dave each of the games he had loved, all of the characters he liked to roleplay best, and even told him about his most embarrassing secret; Rufio.

It was official, Tavros had exposed the nerdiest things about himself to the blonde and he wasn’t turned away for any of them. In fact, he had said how impressed he was with all of his hobbies, making Tavros blush. They had kissed again but Dave didn’t seem as insistent, this time letting Tavros go at whatever pace he liked. It was a nice change from how he lived his everyday life.

The phone in his pocket buzzed and, after a glance toward Dave, Tavros took it out and stared at the screen to see who had texted him. He couldn’t help but feel a little bit surprised to see the alternating capitals that marked the text of his best friend.

Flipping his phone open he read:

hEy, My BeSt MoThErFuCkEr!

Tavros glanced at Dave again, quickly realizing he was asleep. He took a moment before replying to take off his sunglasses, setting them on the side table and returning to his phone. He couldn’t help but appreciate Dave’s appearance as he breathed slowly and steadily.

uHH, nOTHING MUCH, gAMZEE, jUST SPENDING A LITTLE TIME WITH DAVE, sATURDAYS ARE GOOD FOR THAT, i GUESS,

tHaTs AwEsOmE, iTs So nIcE tO cHiLl WiTh ThE oNeS yOu LoVe, Am I rIgHt?

yEAH, yOU REALLY ARE RIGHT,

I cOuLdNt HeLp BuT tHiNk ThAt ItS bEeN a LoNg TiMe SiNcE wE’vE uP aNd EnJoYeD eAcH oThEr’S cOmPaNy, YoU fEeL me?

yEAH, iT REALLY HAS BEEN A WHILE, uHH, iM SORRY, gAMZEE,

nAw MaN dOn’T gO aNd ApOlOgIzE nOw, We BoTh KnOw I wAsN’t ReAlLy InTo ThE wHoLe FrIeNd ThInG fOr A wHiLe.

Tavros looked at his phone for a few moments, twiddling his fingers and trying to decide what to say. He started typing out his next message but his phone buzzed with a new text before he could finish.

i WaS tHiNkInG i MiGhT nEeD sOmE mOtHeRfUcKiNg FrIeNdInG rIgHt nOw, tHoUgH.

It may have been a long time since Tavros had spent any time with Gamzee, but still he knew distress in the troll when he saw it, whether it be in his face or in his writing. Gamzee had spent almost two years shutting people out of his life, as a response to his father’s almost perpetual absence, and apparently he was ready to accept a little help again. Tavros always promised himself that he would be there for Gamzee when this happened, but now…

iLL BE OVER IN A LITTLE BIT THEN,

He laid a hand on Dave’s shoulder, scared to wake him up with the new that he would have to leave. It was a little awkward, seeing as how Dave had relaxed into him in his sleep. Inhaling, Tavros shook him gently.

“Uhh…Dave?” He whispered, biting his lip when Dave groaned, eyes fluttering open. He straightened up a little, smirking, leaning over lazily and kissing the side of Tavros’ neck.

“What’s up, hot stuff?” Tavros couldn’t help but smile. Dave, when tired, tended to be looser with his diction, often resulting in some relatively hilarious quips. Tavros’ breath hitched at the feeling of Dave’s lips pressed against one of the most sensitive areas on his body, but he slid away before he could get lost in the sensation, trying his best to focus.

“I need to go now, Dave. One of my friends needs some help.” Dave didn’t seem to take too well to the idea, carefully straddling Tavros’ hips and pressing their lips together gently. Dave’s face was red and warm from having fallen asleep, and Tavros, running his bare hands over his chest, could smell the sweat that had resulted from their previous shenanigans. The smell and memory that came with it made his head fuzzy all over again.

“Maybe it can wait?” Dave breathed, running his lip up the bridge of his nose and kissing his forehead, his large hands massaging his shoulders gently. Tavros whimpered, in utter physical pleasure, but emotional torment. He had already told Gamzee he would be there, and he couldn’t let him down, knowing that he and Dave could do this whenever they felt like it. He gripped Dave’s wrists, kissing his boyfriend tenderly before speaking up.

“I don’t think it can.” Tavros felt his heart sink as Dave considered him for a moment, and then sighed, reluctantly lifting himself off of Tavros and helping the nervous troll into his wheelchair. Tavros wasn’t sure what to say as Dave took hold of the handles and wheeled him toward the door, so he settled on saying nothing, the feeling of total acceptance gone.

Despite retrieving his sunglasses Dave never even bothered to put on a shirt or shoes as he brought Tavros to his car, a junky old thing that he barely ever drove for fear of it breaking down randomly in the middle of the road. But they got in nevertheless, and Dave followed Tavros’ directions for the short ride to Gamzee’s house, neither addressing the sudden tension Tavros felt all too strongly, gripping his heart and stomach.

When they arrived Daved helped him out, unfolding his wheelchair and following him up to the door. Before Tavros rang the bell, however, Dave leaned down, pressing a kiss to his lips, the gesture short but loving.

“Have fun, Tav.” He squeezed his shoulder before setting back down the sidewalk barefoot toward his car. Tavros realized that Dave was most likely only disappointed at him not being able to stay all night, and his last minute actions made him feel more at ease. He felt more calm as he waited for Gamzee to answer.

 

Gamzee’s house was relatively kempt, everything seemingly in its place in the living room and kitchen. The whole place, however, had the smell of sopor and other various substances he had probably picked up from whoever he got his sopor from. Gamzee wasn’t wearing any face paint today, and it looked strange to Tavros, who could now see just how dark purple the bags under his eyes were.

“How are you, Gamzee?” Tavros asked as they went into the living room, Gamzee hoisting Tavros up without asking and setting him down carefully onto the couch so he could stretch out beside him.

“I’m alright…” He let the words trail off, and Tavros knew this was a bad sign. They sat in silence for a few moments, and finally Gamzee spoke again. “Dad hasn’t called in a while.”

“Oh gosh, Gamzee…how long has it been?”

“Couple months, man, been here getting my alone on for that long.” The corners of Gamzee’s mouth turned down. Tavros knew that Gamzee’s father owned the house they lived in, though as far as paying bills, it was something that the troll had learned early on, being on his own so often. “He hasn’t been putting money into the motherfucking account for a while, I’m uh…” He picked at one of the threads on the couch, clearly unsure of how to continue.

“Do you need a place to stay, Gamzee?” Tavros’ eyebrows knit into a concerned frown, and he covered his friend’s hand with his own. He remembered before high school, back to their childhood, when Gamzee would insist on holding hands, wherever they went. The contrast between then and now was stark, Gamzee worn, completely out of it, in need of help. “You can come live with me for a while. My dad would understand. It would be fun.”

“That…that would be a miracle, Tavros.” Gamzee replied, squeezing his hand in return, finally smiling back at him. Tavros hoped that the worst hadn’t happened to Gamzee’s father, but in the meantime, he would be there for him for whatever he needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that took so long guys! ;D Since I'm not posting it in separate parts it takes a little longer to get the story to you because I need to have a full chapter to post. This fic only has a few chapters left OHGOSH, sorry to bum you out with this Gamzee thing hahaha~ It's like a soap opera or something. I changed their world a little bit so they have parents instead of a lusus. Next is indeed more John/Karkat TENSION and possibly action? PERHAPS? We'll seeee. 8D


	11. Chapter 11

Something was going to happen tonight.

Karkat didn’t care what, whether it was moving on with his life or finally moving forward with John, but he couldn’t stand it anymore. He had called the nerd up, demanded that they watch an actual movie together, the kind that was in the theaters, planning fully on paying for him and buying anything his little fuckass heart desired. Dave had been sending him texts, loaded with smart alec tips, and Karkat wasn’t having an easy time discerning between the jokes and genuine pieces of advice. But paying for John seemed like a good idea, and he had just enough money for a couple movie tickets and popcorn.

As he got ready for the evening ahead, his phone buzzed. Picking it up with his normal amount of irritation he stared down at the message.

tell me how it goes tonight

Karkat quickly and angrily opened the screen to reply.

YEAH, WHATEVER. JUST…HELP ME OUT IF I NEED IT, OKAY, MY GUTS ARE IN KNOTS HERE

sure thing dude

Karkat heard the doorbell ring, but before he could even put his phone in his pocket he could hear his dad opening the door downstairs. Immediately his throat seized up, shoving his money in his back pocket and nearly tripping on himself down the stairs. He could see his dad gripping the doorknob, trying to usher John inside angrily, while the pale pink human appeared utterly terrified.

“Dad, it’s okay, we’re just gonna leave.” Karkat hurried over to John, grabbing his arm and leading him away.

“KARKAT. DO YOU HAVE MONEY?” His dad bellowed after them.

“YES DAD.” He called back, burning with embarrassment.

“HAVE A GOOD FUCKING TIME; DON’T CALL UNLESS YOU’RE ON FIRE.” It was his father’s special way of showing his affection.

“OKAY DAD.”

“I LOVE YOU.”

“F-FUCK, YEAH, YOU TOO.”

“Uh…” John looked as though he wanted to comment, but was very clearly unsure of what he might say.

“Just…don’t. I know.” Karkat let go of John’s arm, suddenly a bit self conscious. They would have to walk to the theater, the bus would be ridiculously complicated to take for a distance clearly reachable on foot and neither had cars. John didn’t seem to mind, and even though Karkat thought for sure that the prankster would be irreversibly rattled by coming into contact with his dad, he launched immediately into telling him all about his strange opening night rituals and whatever shit he could come up with while Karkat soaked in every hilarious and mortifying detail. He still struggled in figuring out why he liked John so much, but Dave told him not to over think it. He supposed he would know better than anyone.

“…and you know sometimes, I need to get special candy, like, gushers are obviously my number one but—” Karkat’s hand flew out to his chest to stop him, interrupting the flow of friendly Egbert chatter and bringing his attention to the theater.

It was clearly closed, and abandoned. In light of the fact that Karkat had just listened to thirty minutes of John’s mindless prattling about how important this particular theater was to him, he couldn’t help but feel a small pang of pity at the loss of such an important venue. Looking down at the human, John appeared as though his heart was just ripped in two, and Karkat immediately whipped out his phone, texting urgently to Dave.

OH GOD OH MAN DAVE THE MOVIE THEATER IS CLOSED, WHAT THE FUCK DO I DO

John was busy walking up to the building, clearly in search of some sign of hope. Karkat’s phone buzzed before long and he opened the message frantically.

are you serious thats johns favorite place

DO YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW THAT STRIDER, I AM ASKING YOU FOR HELP ONCE A-FUCKING-GAIN, WHAT DO I DO NOW, HE’S ACTING LIKE THE SOLE SURVIVOR IN A NUCLEAR APOCALYPSE OR SOMETHING

gimme a minute dude i think i can help but shut up for a second

Karkat shoved his phone in his pants pocket, running up to John, who had his hand forlornly pressed against the glass. Karkat patted his shoulder with hesitation, as if he had never comforted someone physically before. Which he hadn’t. For a moment, panic struck him as he realized that he would never be able to show John how he felt if he could barely console him.

“There’s no other theatres in the whole city…and no place like this one…” John’s voice was almost a whisper, and Karkat was terrified he might cry.

“Do you uh…need a hug? Or something?” Karkat ventured, feeling utterly idiotic for the offer. But John nodded, turning and bringing the troll into his arms and for a second Karkat felt so right with the human, holding him, their heads perfectly side by side as John temporarily leaned his weight and trust onto him. But the moment was broken rather unceremoniously by another one of Dave’s texts, and Karkat was only to wait a few seconds to break the hug and glance at the text that he had sent.

go to 9235 dutton avenue at 7 john will know what to do once you bring him there

Karkat didn’t have the will to inquire further, torn between asking Dave, whose vagueness infuriated him, to clarify, and continuing to comfort John with more hugs. But after pocketing his phone and turning back to him, he could see that any opportunity was lost. He checked his watch—5:45—which meant they still had a little time to kill.

“Maybe we can go to that one place you mentioned, with the hamburgers? The one you really liked…” Karkat shuffled a bit, stuffing his hands in his pockets. John looked over at him, and Karkat almost couldn’t handle it, his cheeks apple red and his expression pitiful.

“Yeah, actually, I could go for that…” John mumbled, and Karkat sputtered, disturbed at how his normally cheery friend was brought down so many notches by the closing of a movie theater. He grabbed John’s hand, leading them until he realized he had no clue where he was going.

“Uh…maybe you could lead us.” Karkat refused to let go of John’s hand, and was secretly very pleased when John smiled shyly and squeezed his palm with the gentlest touch he could have ever imagined.

“Of course, silly.” John turned them both completely around, heading the opposite direction, Karkat letting John pull him along with the insistence of a physically repressed puppy.

“I’m fucking paying for this, you hear me?” Karkat grumbled as he tripped over an uneven section of concrete. “You’re not gonna spend a dime after finding out your favorite theater closed.”

“Whatever you say, Karkat.” John was full-on grinning again, and the sight pierced Karkat’s heart more efficiently than anything the human had ever done before.

 

Dinner went by relatively quickly, and Karkat managed to pay for them both—John didn’t seem to understand the importance of this and it frustrated him. However, he noticed that he had taken to touching him quite a bit, whether it be shoving his shoulder playfully, touching his arm just to get his attention, or bumping shoulders as they walked toward the address that Dave sent him. Each bit of contact intoxicated Karkat, made him dizzy, and he knew he had it bad for the human—no matter how much he tried to deny it.

When they rounded the corner of the final block to wherever it was they were going, John reacted quickly, pointing to a large gap between the tall buildings where colorful spray paint seemed to be leading into an alleyway.

“Hey, that’s where Dave’s bro DJs!” Karkat looked at the address painted onto the sidewalk, and sure enough, the numbers matched. Wordlessly Karkat lead them down the alley, John questioning him the entire time, half of it getting on his nerves and the other half humoring him as he tried to figure out what was next. Nestled amongst the bricks was a door a symbol painted on—a crow’s head with a knife through it. He had seen the same icon on a sticker stuck to Dave’s backpack, and suddenly feeling confident, he pushed the door open.

Inside was a large room with a few people milling about, the place dimly lit, tables circling around one end of the room with a stage on the other end. And on the stage were several familiar friends. John waved happily, forgetting all of his questions as they entered.

Alongside some tall guy with blonde hair pointy glasses were Dave, Tavros, and Gamzee. As he and John approached the stage it became apparent that this stranger seemed to be teaching them how to use turntables, though Karkat knew nothing of what they were doing. John pulled him up on stage with them, and Dave, who was leaning against the back wall and apparently letting Gamzee and Tavros observe, nodded toward him. Karkat nodded in return.

“Wow, hey guys!” John yelled with excitement, and Karkat felt himself kind of hanging behind them all, noticing that more and more people were filling the room rather quickly. “What are you doing?”

He watched as each of them took turns using who he could only assume to be Bro’s various DJ contraptions, a bit astonished at how well Gamzee in particular seemed to take to them. He stood by Dave, who smirked as they watched their companion’s progress.

“Bro’s going easy on them. Usually he’s a lot more intense.” Dave commented offhandedly.

“So what are we supposed to be doing here, exactly?” Karkat folded his arms, leaning against the wall beside him.

“Bro will start up the music soon, and then you and John can dance.” It was the kind of undertone that Karkat wouldn’t have been surprised to find a shit eating grin going along with it, but Dave’s face remained as stoic as ever.

“You can’t be serious. I’ve never even tried dancing. And I can’t even think of what John would look like…oh gog…” Karkat slapped a hand over his face. “What did you do, Dave?”

“Relax. John loves these places, especially this one. And if he can feel good dancing like a huge dork out there, then you can too. Besides, it’s hard not to get into it, all the touching and sweaty bodies moving constantly…it’s hot. Literally and figuratively.” Dave laughed. “Go metamorphose, Karkat, into the butterfly you truly are.”

“Fuck you, Strider.” Karkat spat, though what Dave had mentioned previously made him blush.

“You better get out there though.” Dave nodded toward the growing crowd of people, which was increasing at a freakish rate. “Egbert, it’s about to start, go dance.” Karkat started to perspire, just a little bit, trying not to appear too upset at the course the night had taken. John, hearing Dave, grinned and grabbed Karkat’s hand, pulling them both onto the floor just as the music got loud and the room became dim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooohhh~ Hello again guys c: Look at me using actual homestuck references! I wonder if you can spot them all. all...two. lmfao. anyway, thank you once again for your comments and omg kudos and augh everything, you are all so wonderful. Only a few more chapters left, I b'lieve. <3 Also, crabdad cameo. Someone requested it a while back and I couldn't help it, short though it was. I think I have officially appeased all requests from this fic...except the obvious one. I'M GETTING TO IT OKAY.
> 
> See you soon! <3


	12. Chapter 12

The lights were flashing and everything else was pitch black, so pitch black that Karkat was sure he would lose John in the sea of dancing bodies both human and troll alike. But Egbert clamped their hands together tightly until they had moved directly into the middle of the crowd, and even though Karkat couldn’t hear or see him very well he was pretty sure that John was laughing. It was nice to see him so happy.

But the dancing. Karkat had to admit that from what he could see as his eyes got used to the dark and random bursts of light, John was actually pretty good, raising his arms above his head and moving his hips like he knew what he was doing. Karkat still couldn’t help but feel incredibly awkward, trying to repeat whatever John did, biting his lip hard as he concentrated. He looked back up at the stage, and from what he could see Dave, Tavros and Gamzee were still there, Tavros watching Bro with interest while it seemed that Gamzee and Dave were talking in the back. Karkat had no idea how they were able to speak with their ears being lambasted with a decibel of music probably three times higher than what was safe for anyone to hear.

He was distracted for so long that his attention was only snapped back when he felt hands on his hips, swinging his head back quickly to identify the perpetrator of such a crime, ready to fend off some sleazy human female who thought it would be okay to bump and grind with a random troll stranger. But it was John, smiling bashfully, gripping his hips and leaning forward to yell something into his ear.

“Move your hips, Karkat!”

He allowed himself to be guided by John’s hand and eventually his hips as well, baffled when John was grinding them together, sure he wouldn’t be able to do this for long without revealing his physical enjoyment of the situation. But this human’s silent contact made things clear.

Very clear.

Without questioning him or trying to clarify this buck-toothed, nerdy trickster’s intent, Karkat raised his arms, setting his elbows on John’s shoulders and letting himself relax. For the next three hours they danced this way, so close, Karkat for once in his life feeling secure with what he was doing. They danced for as long as they could, three hours, one hundred and eighty minutes until Karkat couldn’t take the stifling heat anymore and he pulled John outside to breathe the quiet, cool night air.

 

This wasn’t a moment that Karkat could spend discussing their feelings and trying to get things perfect. This wasn’t a moment to ruin with his whiny, insecure nonsense and confusion over why no one ever liked him or hated him just the way he wanted them to. This was a moment given to him by luck or chance or whatever force decided to grant him his one opportunity to do exactly what he wanted, right now, no other time. As soon as the two were able they stumbled outside, Karkat’s knees feeling weak, John’s breathy laugh ringing throughout the empty alleyway as he was pushed against the wall fiercely, eagerly by Karkat’s hands.

And then he was kissed.

By Karkat’s lips.

He realized immediately that he should have taken off his glasses first, or perhaps showed a little more care as to whether John hit his head against the brick wall as he released every ounce of tension he could upon his mouth. But instead of pointing these things out John wrapped his arms around Karkat’s neck, moaning or whimpering or whatever, they were beautiful noises no matter what they were. So maybe it wasn’t perfect, but it was what he wanted anyway, making it by some roundabout logic more perfect than he could have expected. Their lips moved against each other, becoming sloppy and wet, John’s ‘ahh’ of surprise like music to his ears as Karkat nicked him accidentally with his teeth.

He had lost track of the minutes when they stopped to rest, panting, Karkat feeling as though it was over much too quickly. But if John needed to stop then that’s what they would do, and for a few glorious seconds Karkat didn’t feel like arguing with anyone no matter what the disagreement. He watched John’s mouth open, expecting something silly or possibly even quaint, something to sum up the moment, maybe even the unleashing of a long awaited confession.

“I have the biggest hard on right now.”

“…What.” Karkat tried his best not to fact check, but looking down he could indeed see that John’s pants were starting to look a bit tighter. The human’s cheeks were flushed, and John looked absolutely embarrassed at what he had just revealed. Karkat empathized more than he knew.

“But I don’t want to do anything about it; tonight at least, because you should know that it’s not all I want from you. I want to have a relationship with you, Karkat. Would that be okay?” His question echoed off of the bricks and hit Karkat’s ears like electricity from behind those hilariously prominent buck teeth.

“Yes. Me too, I…” Karkat was dumbfounded at how he couldn’t find the words to express himself, after year after year of devouring every romantic comedy he could find. “That’s what I want too.” Simple enough.

“Good.” John sighed, letting out a breath and leaning his weight into Karkat’s chest, putting his chin on the troll’s shoulder. Karkat couldn’t shake the odd feeling that John had planned this, but he couldn’t have known that the movie theater was closed—that wasn’t acting. And he didn’t seem to know where they were going when he brought him here.

“Fuck.” Karkat lamented as he wrapped his arms around him. “I’m pretty hard too.” John did his strange giggle laugh, leaning back to meet Karkat’s eyes.

“I won’t make you wait too long. I promise.”

 

TG: i feel betrayed john  
EB: im sorry! i really am. but it’s embarrassing!  
TG: so  
TG: im your best friend i shouldnt be finding out your deepest secrets from tavros  
TG: why didn’t you come to me first  
EB: are you trying to tell me that you wouldn’t have laughed your ass off when i told you? come on now, im not stupid.  
TG: yeah but still  
EB: and you never told me about tavros. i had to witness it from the top of a hill!  
TG: touche  
TG: well now that you know that he likes you back you better do something about it  
TG: he thinks of tonight as a date  
TG: so kiss him in the movie theater or some weird romantic shit you gleaned from your idol mcconaughey  
EB: nic cage is my idol, dave, you know this.  
TG: well dont do it like him dear gog  
TG: just make sure you tell him tonight  
TG: because i cannot honestly take much more of this frantic texting  
TG: my advice only does so much for the windbag  
EB: got it. i have to head over there now or im gonna be late  
EB: wish me luck!  
TG: consider it wished  
\-- ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 16:30 --

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is not in chronological order.


	13. Chapter 13

Tavros was relieved at how easy it was to move Gamzee into the spare bedroom right across the hall from his own. His mother was in fits, flitting about as she made sure everything went into the right place, assuring that it was neat and perfect. She interacted well with Gamzee, who hadn’t been putting on his makeup as often as before. Even the teachers at school had noticed.

Gamzee, who knew Tavros was nervous about his habits, had taken the liberty of beginning to wean himself off of the various drugs he used during the few weeks before he moved in. Tavros was proud of him, though there was many a time in which Gamzee seemed to act on edge. It took a while before the troll could be as chill without drugs as he was with them. Tavros noticed that it seemed like Gamzee used them to forget about being alone, when he had no one there to tell him not to.

“Careful with that!” Tavros’ mother snatched Gamzee’s unicycle from Dave’s chin, where he had been balancing it precariously on the way to Gamzee’s room. “You’ll knock out a lamp!” Though she berated him Tavros could see the smirk on her face as Dave mumbled his apologies and went back to help carry something else. Tavros was forever grateful that his mother seemed to like his boyfriend, though the two teased each other a lot.

“Aw c’mon Missus N.! Dave’s got too much fuckin’ swagger to let something break.” Gamzee laughed as he and Dave fist bumped, his mother clucking humorously. Tavros couldn’t help but laugh at watching all of this—for once he was letting his friends and loved ones into his home, where he could feel the most useful, with ramps up which he could carry Gamzee’s boxes rather than having people carry him.

After everything was moved he, Dave, and Gamzee each relaxed in his room, the television on as Dave played DS, Gamzee almost passed out on his floor. Tavros had noticed that Gamzee had taken a lot more to sleeping lately whenever he felt a bad mood coming on. He waited until he could recognize the full, heavy breathing of a slumbering troll before lifting himself from his wheelchair and onto his bed. He shifted next to Dave, who slung an arm over him and continued to beat the game he played despite the interruption.

“I guess Gamzee’s gonna be around a lot more, huh?” Tavros mumbled, feeling a bit tired. He had stayed up late last night with Dave, dwelling periodically on the memory before returning to real life.

“Out of everyone you could have picked to live with you, I would think Gamzee is the chillest of all the fuckers available. You did good, Tav.” Tavros could feel the smile in his words. “Gonna nap now?”

“I think so.”

“Good. You need it after last night.” Tavros nudged Dave in the side, glancing over the edge of the bed to see if Gamzee had heard. He wasn’t sure, the troll’s breathing had lessened somewhat and there was a slight curve at the corner of his mouth.

He scooted down so his head rested on Dave’s thighs as he closed his eyes happily. He couldn’t help but think how nice it was for everything to start working out again for him, and as he drifted off he was vaguely aware that he was smiling like a fool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOF sorry this took so freakin' long. Originally this was going to be part of a longer chapter but conclusions are hardest for me so I thought I should just post what I have now so I won't keep you guys waiting too long (I personally get headsploded whenever I'm waiting long enough for updates of fics and comics lololol)
> 
> YES TINKERMOM I don't know if that's a thing but. I love the idea. Uh anything else I have to say, uhh. Uhhhh~ I'm not making Gamzee crazy as a sober dude. That is not the point of this fic HAHA~
> 
> Two more chapters left, I'd wager. I think the next one will be just as short as this one. The last one will include shenanigans of the concupiscent variety. EHEH HEHEE


	14. Chapter 14

“So, you guys done it yet?” Dave asked over a mouthful of taco as he and John sat in his room, the air finally cool enough to hang around in such a place that had no air conditioners. John usually preferred the cold weather, insisting that Dave come over to his house during the warmer months where they had a neighborhood pool and a frigid basement to escape the heat in. But currently the temperature was not the focus, Dave clearly showing curiosity to an area John never expected to talk to him about.

“What?” John said after nearly a minute of chewing and swallowing, done as slowly as possible to avoid the question. It had been a few weeks since he and Karkat had started going out, though they kept it relatively quiet akin to Dave and Tavros, to avoid attention. But now it seemed like Dave was curious to compare their relationship, something that John was not exactly keen on.

“Dude don’t pretend not to know what I just asked. Have you and Karkles gotten it on yet?” Dave clapped his hands together a couple times to clear his fingers of crumbs as he headed toward his turntables. John took another bite of his taco, glaring up at Dave as he contemplated how to answer the question. It was simple, really, but it was a topic rather foreign to John, who had never actually discussed something like this with Dave outside of junior year biology.

“No…” John bit his lip, wishing he had more food left to distract himself with. Dave started up a slow beat, the volume turned down as he fiddled with the settings. The only other people that John had told about him and Karkat were Rose and Jade, both of whom seemed to accept without a moment’s thought. “Do we have to?”

“Naw, man. Just surprised, that’s all.” Dave played around with the sounds casually, as though their conversation was just like any other. “I would think Karkat would make a move as soon as possible.”

“He’s shyer than you think!” John giggled, blushing. “I’m always the one…uh, never mind.” He couldn’t bring himself to go further into the details. Dave smiled, working the records like it was second nature to him—which he could only suppose that it was. “Shut up, it’s not like you and Tavros are doing it all the time. Tavros is way too…innocent for that!”

“Heh, dude, you have no idea.” Dave quirked an eyebrow, and John frowned.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That Tavros gets more head than you can wrap your libido around.” John stared, contemplating this, wondering whether he should really be surprised.

“So wait, are you trying to peer pressure me into having sex with Karkat?” He huffed, already feeling as though Dave had won some sort of competition. Dave snorted.

“No, dude, I was just curious. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.” Dave bobbed his head for a few minutes at a particularly pleasing overlapping of sounds, John withdrawing his scowl for the time being to enjoy the music.

The truth was that Karkat, in an attempt to defy his dad’s parenting, had been studying an awful lot to get his grades up before the end of the semester. Winter break was only a week away and John had been looking forward to finally having a little time off together. The end of the semester was always a wind down for him and Dave, seeing as how John kept up such good grades at the beginning that finals didn’t worry him, and Dave simply didn’t care.

One more week…John gritted his teeth as he thought about how long, yet how short it could be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH GOD SORRY FINALLY These in between chapters are like TEETH PULLINS
> 
> ONE MORE CHAPTER
> 
> OHGOD


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oh my god sorry guys smut and sexy things take me so long I hope the humor isn't too disconcerting
> 
> THANK YOU FOR BEING AN AWESOME BUNCH
> 
> See you next fic
> 
> <3

It was the first day of winter break, and it hadn’t even snowed yet. That didn’t stop John from buying loads of hot chocolate to appease Karkat’s sweet tooth for that night, as well as other various minty, fruity and peanut butter filled things. He considered going down the baking aisle but shivered—he wouldn’t stoop that low, not for anyone.

His dad would be out that night, on a date with Ms. Lalonde, something he tried not to think about when Karkat arrived with a stack of his troll romcoms and a comment on whether they would be alone. John’s reply: yes, they would be. Karkat nodded and accepted his offer for hot chocolate, which John made happily and eagerly, both boys going up to his room and parking themselves on the bed with their warm beverages as the troll version of what John thought might be 50 First Dates started to play.

“That was the longest three weeks ever.” John sighed, becoming nervous and excited having Karkat so close. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t gotten to see him at all, requesting kisses from him every day after school, even a long make out session one Friday when John had followed Karkat home and didn’t want to leave.

“It was.” Karkat replied gruffly, taking in half his hot chocolate in one large gulp and setting it on the side table. John couldn’t figure out why he was too nervous to reach over and wipe the thin line of foam that had settled on the troll’s upper lip. There was that tension once again, as clear as it could be, and he knew both of them felt it. The movie was of practically no importance now. John quickly ran through every tiny rule of romance he had ever learned, finding that his own physical want trumped all the bullshit about waiting and games and finesse when it came to Karkat.

John shifted himself over, looking at the troll, watching the light change colors on his grey skin. He swallowed, waiting for Karkat to do something—any small thing to show him that he had permission to do what he had imagined doing every night since that night, when they first kissed. He could see Karkat’s lips tightening into a thin line. He could hear his breath coming out unevenly, as if he were unsure to breathe at all.

With a twitch of his hand he managed to find himself touching Karkat’s knee, staring as he moved his palm up his thigh, and everything changed in a half second.

Karkat reached over and dragged John on top of himself, falling so their legs alternated from one another, perfect for slow movements in clear expressions of arousal. In the semi darkness their lips found each other and instead of settling into the routine they had established during earlier kisses their movements were unpredictable, urging each other on, Karkat exhaling full force as he recklessly caught his teeth against John’s bottom lip. He didn’t care. Neither of them cared.

Soon their hips were thrusting against each other, Karkat reaching over to push John against himself as they moaned, soft curses uttered when something was done right, moans released when something was amazing. John supported himself over Karkat, lifting his face away as he concentrated on the feeling of their erections rubbing up against each other through the layers of denim that separated them in the most frustrating way.

John’s head was buzzing with pleasure as Karkat’s hands ran over his torso, eventually resting on his hips. His mind processed thoughts far too quickly—how far would they go? Should he unzip their pants? Oh gosh, Karkat was kissing him again, did this mean he didn’t care about how chapped his lips were? John grunted when a hand was on his ass, squeezing it, and for a moment he marveled at how brazen their long suppressed actions really were.

It was Karkat who unbuttoned their pants but John who was brave enough to reach down and touch him first, feeling him through his boxers, not really being able to see but he supposed it didn’t matter. It smelled like popcorn and tasted like hot chocolate and somehow he knew that he would associate these things with Karkat’s penis forever. Not half bad.

It was a good thing that Karkat liked it when John touched him like this. So much that when he flicked a finger underneath the hem of his boxers and awkwardly grabbed a hold of him he could feel him pulse, something he recollected feeling in himself—especially on those nights before now when all he could think about was Karkat and what might happen during these exact moments. Karkat made that kind of tiny gasp that a person makes when they’re surprised but waiting for things to go on. So John squeezed.

Karkat was surprisingly quiet and John couldn’t help but stifle himself because of this, knowing that he was naturally quite loud, but he didn’t want Karkat to think he was weird. But listening to his heavy breathing was wonderful all the same, and he let the troll grasp his wrists and buck into his touch and what he could see of his face was screwed up in—well it looked angry, but the special kind of pleasurable anger that only Karkat could bring to the table.

Finally John pushed his pants down just far enough that he could grasp his own erection and press it against Karkat’s. It certainly wasn’t as pleasurable as running the whole of his palm up and down his length but it was so much more intimate and the act kind of blew his mind. Karkat cracked an eye open as he clumsily rubbed the heads together, then took both of them in one hand and began to stroke.

He hadn’t been touching himself until now, so he didn’t realize that Karkat would come so much faster than he would. When Karkat’s hands flew behind him to grip the pillow underneath his head and John could feel him tighten it got him closer—but he had to let go after watching his genetic material shoot onto his belly, because then Karkat was too sensitive, and he gasped in pain before pulling John’s hand off of him and starting to stroke John himself. It felt good, Karkat’s hand was warm and the sensation made it easier to slow his speeding train of thoughts.

It took a lot longer for John, though Karkat was taking his time, and it made John self conscious for Karkat to watch him like this. Wasn’t his stomach getting cold? But no, Karkat’s patience seemed unending and John supported himself over him as well as he could, dipping down for a kiss, enjoying the way he felt with his lips swollen like they were. John couldn’t help letting out a couple of moaning sighs, and he was really close, just a few more—he gritted his teeth as he came, crushing his forehead into the pillow next to Karkat and wondering if this will be able to last longer in the future.

“Gross.” Karkat spoke after a little while of John panting over him, and John laughed, getting up and pushing himself gingerly back into his pants before going to get a clean wash cloth. Somewhere along the line he had pushed Karkat’s shirt up, thankfully making his much more washable belly the target for the results of their orgasms. It was more than delightful to find that Karkat seemed to be slightly ticklish there.

“Did you like that?” John asked, his voice lower than it usually was, though no less happy. He put the cloth away and flopped back into bed as Karkat righted himself next to him.

“What the fuck? Of course I fuckin’ liked it, you nerdbasket.” Karkat slid his hand across his shoulders, pulling him close as the movie went on like nothing happened. “Did you?” He added after a while, and John snorted.

“Not at allll, Karkat. Gosh!” He kissed the side of his face, “That was terrible. From now on, we’re only doing it every night. Sometimes twice.” Karkat stared, bemused at John’s horrific attempt at sarcasm.

“Sounds good.” He pulled John close. For a moment the memory of seeing him for the first time in the video store flashed in his mind, and he smiled broadly at how different he really was from that day. For the rest of the movie (that he couldn’t understand) he thought about how lucky he was, eager to do this again.


End file.
